Padfoot and Wing
by ElphabaLives4Ever
Summary: Sirius was Rose's best friend; he always had been and always would be...so why didn't that seem like enough anymore? Marauder Era. Sirius/OC and a little James/Lilly
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey guys! Hmmm…I never know how to word my author's notes so this might be a little scattered. As you probably got from the summary, this is going to be a Sirius/OC fanfic. There's also going to be a little James/Lilly sprinkled in, and whatever else I feel like throwing in. I don't think there's anything else for me to say right now…so without further ado: my disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: If I was JK Rowling, I would definitely not be on fanfiction writing about my characters…but I'm not and I WILL write about her characters, so don't sue me, and read on! =)**

"Rose! Time to get up, darling!" Haylee Clarke's voice rang from the kitchen to her daughter's bedroom.

Rose groaned and rolled over in her bed. She never was a morning person, and she had been awake long into the night out of sheer anticipation and excitement. She shut her eyes tight and tried to ignore her mother's calls from downstairs. Then she remembered what day it was, and at once threw back her blankets and leaped out of bed.

She was nearly out the door when she stumbled over her trunk.

_Right_, she thought to herself, _best not forget that_.

While throwing her books, clothes, and other necessities messily into her trunk, she also thought that it might be a good idea not to start her first day at Hogwarts in her pajamas. She took out a pair of jeans and a pale blue sweatshirt, and quickly got herself dressed. She then paused to survey herself in the mirror against her bedroom wall.

Rose Clarke was a very thin girl, with light brown hair that reached her waist. She looked very much like her mother with her large, round, bright blue eyes and her extremely pale complexion. She had fairly full, light pink lips and a small nose dusted with freckles. Rose was never one to wear makeup. She saw it as a waste of time, and she did not particularly care about what other people thought about her appearance.

Then, she finished packing, and stumbled out the door with her trunk in tow. When she reached the kitchen, she observed that she was the last of her family to be ready…again. Her brothers Alex, a tall boy with jet black hair and hazel eyes like his father in his second year at Hogwarts, Matthew, a slightly taller, thinner boy in his fifth year, and Riley, a short, stocky seventh year, were already finishing their breakfast and heading out the door. She could see out the window that her parents were waiting in the car.

"No time for breakfast, I'm afraid!" her father yelled from the car, "We can't afford to be late for your first day!"

"That's okay, she can eat on the train; let's just _go_!" shouted Matthew, and four of them headed for the car.

Mrs. Clarke turned slightly in her seat to look at her daughter.

"Nervous, Rose?" she asked, reaching over Riley to brush away a fly-away hair from her face.

"A bit," Rose replied, feeling uneasy, "I'll be fine, though. Don't worry."

Her mother squeezed her hand slightly as her father pulled out of the driveway. It seemed like they had been driving for no time at all when they pulled up in front of King's Cross Station. Rose ran to keep up with her parents and her brothers as they moved quickly through the packs of Muggles until they reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

Rose's eyebrows shot up when she saw her brother Riley walk through the completely solid brick wall as if it were an open door. Matthew and Alex did the same, and Rose was left staring desperately up at her parents.

"It's alright, Rose," said her father smiling warmly at her, "there's really nothing there. It's just to keep the Muggles out."

Rose took a deep breath, and walked up to the barrier, stuck her arm through it, and allowed the rest of her body to do the same. She had arrived on platform nine and three quarters. Her parents came through the barrier directly behind her, and her mother laid her hand on her shoulder as the whistle of the train ahead of them sounded.

"You'd better get going, honey," she said softly, "have a good time."

With one last look at her parents, Rose hurried to catch up with her brothers, entering the train. There were no empty compartments left, so Rose found nearly the only one that wasn't full, and lifted her trunk into the storage area above it. She awkwardly stepped inside, and saw that its other occupants were three boys. The one closest to her had pale blond hair, with skin that was almost as pale, with shockingly blue eyes. The one sitting across from him had black, messy hair with green eyes and thick, round glasses. Sitting next to the boy with glasses was one with cool, grey eyes that seemed to smiling at something, and hair that was similarly dark to his companion's, but considerably tidier and slightly longer. All three of them were having a good, hard laugh over something the boy in glasses had just said.

Rose cleared her throat, causing them to glance up at her.

"All the other compartments are full, so would you mind if I…"

"Not at all!" said the pale, blond boy, giving her a wide grin.

"My name's James," said the boy with glasses as she took her seat, "and this is Remus," he said, gesturing toward the pale boy, "and this is Sirius," pointing to the boy sitting next to him.

"I'm Rose."

"This your first year?" Sirius asked.

"Yes," Rose replied.

"We're first years, too!" said Remus happily, "We were just talking about the Sorting. What House do you reckon they'll put you in?"

"Dunno," said Rose, truthfully, "my mum and dad were in Hufflepuff, but all three of my brothers are in Gryffindor."

"You'll probably end up in Gryffindor, then," Remus said thoughtfully, "I've heard that they put you in the same House as most of your family."

"That's a lie!" yelled Sirius, getting up out of his seat, and pointing his wand at Remus' throat, "You take that back, you liar!"

"Okay, fine, Sirius!" said Remus, sounding more annoyed than frightened, "and you know I didn't mean _that_. Her brothers are in school _now_, that's all!"

Sirius slowly got to his seat, mumbling "Sorry," with a scowl on his face.

Rose shot a questioning look at James, who chuckled.

"Aw, he's just sore 'cause his whole family wound up in Slytherin, and he's one of the decent people who'd rather die."

"I'm nothing like any of them," said Sirius, more to himself than to anyone else, "_Nothing._"

"'Course you're not, Sirius, now lighten up! Come on, I've got a game of wizard's chess with me. Anyone daring enough to take on the master?"

It turned out that chess was the perfect thing to lift Sirius' spirits, as he was clearly the best player out of the four of them. Rose had a great time with the boys, and before long, counted them as close friends. Before long, the train pulled up in front of a magnificent castle.

"Merlin's beard!" exclaimed Remus, "This is gonna be a great year; I know it!"

"Way to get all corny on us, Remus," said Rose, laughing but secretly agreeing with him. The sight of the castle alone was enough assure anyone of a wonderful future ahead of them.

They eagerly scurried off the train, and gathered around the school's gamekeeper, Ogg, who was waiting to escort them in small boats across the enormous lake to the castle. James, Sirius, Remus, and Rose climbed into a boat near the edge of the lake, and were struck with awe as it started to drift toward the castle of its own accord.

"You know," said Sirius, peering over the edge of the boat with an expectant grin, "I've heard there was a giant squid in this lake! You think it might try to pull us under?"

"I doubt it," said James with a tone of disappointment.

Just as James had predicted, there was no giant squid attack during their journey. They arrived safely on the other side of the lake, and filed into the castle with the other first years.

"The Sorting will start any minute now," said Sirius weakly, wringing his hands together desperately.

Rose patted his shoulder comfortingly, and he gave her a strained smile.

Just then a very small boy with matted red hair tugged on the back of Rose's robes.

"E-excuse me?" he said nervously, "I…I seem to have lost my rat. Have you seen one anywhere?"

"No I-" Rose began, but James cut her off.

"I think I did! There was a dead rat floating in the lake earlier…you didn't lose it on the boat did you?"

"Dibbles!" cried the boy in despair, his eyes swimming with tears.

Remus walked over to him and slung his arm around him in sympathy.

"It'll be alright, mate. Rats don't last too long, anyway."

Despite Remus' efforts, this didn't help things at all. The boy only cried harder.

"Oh, come on," said Rose gently, "you can wait for the Sorting with us…what's your name?"

"I…I'm Peter…Peter Pettigrew," said the boy, apparently cheered slightly at the prospect of having friends.

So, the group waited, huddled together and not talking all that much, waiting for the Sorting to begin. Finally, the doors in front of them swung open, revealing a stern-looking witch in a pointed hat with her hair tied back into a tight bun. She lead them into the Great Hall, where the rest of the students were watching them with only mild interest. They were more interested in the coming feast than in them, Rose supposed. She caught sight of her brother, Matthew, who gave her an encouraging smile as she walked past him. The stern-looking witch, whose name they discovered was Professor McGonagall, placed an old hat on a stool in the middle of the atrium. Professor McGonagall opened a long role of parchment, and read the name, "Black, Sirius."

Sirius balled his hands into fists as he stepped forward toward the front of the Hall. Rose whispered "Good luck," but wasn't sure he'd heard her. He sat awkwardly on the stool, and with a frightened glance at the Slytherin table, placed the hat on his head. For nearly five minutes, the Hall was silent as the Sorting hat contemplated which House Sirius would be placed in. Rose cast a worried look at James, who grimaced, wondering whether the hat always took this long to decide…

With an abruptness that made nearly everyone jump, the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and Sirius took the hat off of his head with a wide grin on his face, and all but danced to the Gryffindor table. She wasn't sure, but Rose could have sworn she'd seen his lips form the words "Take that, mom!" Not knowing what to make of these words, she cast them out of her mind and applauded loudly with James, Sirius, and Peter.

Then, the Hall fell silent again. Rose waited nervously as six or seven other first years were sorted into various Houses. Then, Professor McGonagall called, "Clarke, Rose!"

Rose slowly moved toward the Sorting hat, a feeling of dread rising within her. She lowered herself onto the stool, and placed the hat on her head.

"_Ah…interesting_," she heard the hat's voice say in her mind instead of her ears, "_A sense of ambition in you…would do you well in Slytherin. No? Well, let's see…a sharp mind, too. You'd fit right in with Ravenclaw…ah but there's a brave heart in you too…and Gryffindor could use some more wit…yes, better be…_GRYFFINDOR!"

Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down next to Sirius. She watched with delight as Peter, James, and Remus were also sorted into Gryffindor.

"What'd I tell you?" Remus said as he sat down across from Rose, "This is gonna be a great year!"

**A/N: A bit of a slow-paced chapter, I know, but it's just the prologue! Now that we have all of our main characters introduced, the plot can pick up now. Let me know what you think PLEASE! Review! The more reviews, the faster the update! Bye for now!**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay…no reviews yet *sigh* but it's only been few days, so I guess that's understandable, but PLEASE let me know what you think! Anyway, I'm really excited for this story, and it's already shaping up to be my favorite so far out of what I've written! This chapter is going to be fairly shortly, but there's a reason for that, and I'll probably get the next chapter up either tonight or tomorrow, so I don't feel so bad about it. Okay, I'm done talking now, so read…then review! Please!**

**Disclaimer: Still not JK Rowling…still don't own any characters…**

"Remus?! You've got to be kidding. If anyone's a werewolf it's got to be-"

Sirius was cut of be a very insistent James. "Guys, I _saw_ him! He was standing right outside the school grounds, pacing. He looked scared to death. I was about to say something to him, and then he started growing fur and claws! How do you explain that without saying he's a werewolf?! There was a full moon tonight!"

Halfway through their second year at Hogwarts, James, Sirius, Rose, and Peter had only just begun to realize the periodical absences of their friend Remus. Therefore, James, being the nosy, rash-thinking person he was, got it into his head to follow him as he disappeared yet again that night.

Rose refused to believe James' theory, "James, are you _sure_? I mean…couldn't he just have…transfigured himself or something?"

"Rose, he's bright, but not bright enough to figure out self-transfiguration. Plus, he didn't have his wand out. I'm telling you, he's a werewolf!"

"Maybe we should just ask him. He's never lied to us about anything before, I don't think he'd start now," Peter said thoughtfully.

"Fine!" said Rose rather reluctantly, "but when he gets offended by James' stupid ideas, don't say I didn't warn you!"

"Yeah, yeah," said James rolling his eyes, "you're a bloody saint, Rose" Sirius roared with laughter, and Rose playfully punched him on the shoulder.

The next night, the four of them were seated around a table in the common room, pretending to get started on their Potions report.

"He should be back by now…full moon's over," whispered Sirius, trying to avoid being overheard by the group of girls sitting near the fire at the front of the room.

"Well, there you are then," said Rose triumphantly, not bothering to lower her voice, "he must have some other reason for being out…perhaps he's ill!"

"Then he would have been in the hospital wing, not out in the woods," Sirius retorted.

"I'm just saying that if you two were right, then he would be…Remus!" Rose exclaimed in surprise, as Remus put his books down in front of the empty chair beside hers.

Observing their empty roles of parchment and unopened textbooks, he grinned and said, "So what trouble have you lot been getting up to now?"

"Don't know what you're talking about, Remus," muttered Peter, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"That's rubbish. Come on, what've you been doing?"

Rose lifted her eyes to meet his and said as casually as possible, "James and Sirius have got a rather ridiculous theory about what you were doing last night."

Remus' grin was immediately wiped off of his face as if someone had just slapped him, "Oh really?" he said, unsuccessfully trying to match Rose's casual tone, "and…what might that be?"

"They think you're a werewolf. There, I said it. Absolutely ridiculous, right? Right?...Remus?"

Rose stared at her friend, along with the rest of the table. Remus clearly did not take this as a joke. He sank into his chair, his eyes swimming with tears, which he tried to wipe away under the pretense of brushing a nonexistent stray hair from his eyes. His gaze fell on James and Sirius.

''How…how did you find out?" he asked, sounding tired, beaten.

"James, being the little stalker that he is," Sirius explained, trying to lighten the mood a bit, "decided to follow you around, and sort of…saw you…you know."

"Change." said Remus.

"Not…not completely!" said Rose, feeling horrible for Remus, and trying desperately to make him feel better about this, "You left right after you noticed something was happening, right James?"

"Well yeah!" said James, "I wasn't gonna stick around to get eaten or…ow!"

Rose had kicked James under the table to make him stop talking. He clearly wasn't helping things.

"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Sirius, sounding both concerned and hurt, but Remus wasn't listening to him.

He was staring with a horrified expression at James, as if some huge, horrible realization had just reached him, "I…I could have killed you!"

James looked taken aback, "Yeah…I guess, but it's cool, mate. No harm done."

"Yeah, _this time_! What if one you gets too close next time…or anyone for that matter! How could I have been so stupid?!"

Remus was talking to himself now more than James. He seemed to be getting more and more disgusted with himself as the seconds ticked on.

"Woah, calm down, mate," said Sirius, standing up, and laying a hand on Remus' shoulder, "Honestly, you're taking this way too seriously. It's not like you-"

But Remus had gotten up now, too, "NOT THIS TIME, I DIDN'T!" he roared, tears streaming down his face, "BUT NEXT TIME I COULD _KILL_ ANY OF YOU! WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?"

"Remus," whispered Rose, who was starting to cry now as well, "please."

These two words seemed to cool Remus' temper, "I'm sorry," he said looking down at where she sat, "I…I'm gonna go talk to the Headmaster. I'm leaving."

"Oh, no you're not!" shouted Sirius, strengthening his grip on Remus' shoulders, "There's no way you're walking out on us!"

Remus broke free of Sirius' grasp with surprising strength and said, "Yes, I am; I have to. Sorry."

With that, he left the common room, leaving his friends staring after him, bewildered. Rose stood up and headed for the portrait hole.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?" called James in an exasperated tone of voice.

"I'm taking a leaf from you're book, James," she said quickly as she left the common room, "I'm being nosy."

**A/N: Ah yes, some werewolf issues…I sort of made Lupin react a little more rashly than I'd planned…let me know how you think!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, no reviews after two chapters…um…I know that people are reading it, because I checked my stats…so if you're reading this can you PLEASE tell me what you think about it? Thanks. On with chapter 2!**

**Disclaimer: Am I JK Rowling? No, I'm not. So I don't own anything she made up.**

Rose hurried out of the common room and was slightly surprised to find herself plunged into complete darkness. She knew from experience that there were normally torches lit throughout the night. She had travelled all the way down the long hallway and started down the first staircase when she realized that she hadn't the faintest idea where the Headmaster's office was. She paused, and listened for the sound of Remus' footsteps. She heard nothing. She was about to keep going the way she was going in the hopes of finding it by accident when she caught sight of the light of a wand illuminating Remus' face headed in the opposite direction. Careful to keep perfectly silent, she began to follow him down the dark corridor.

They had been walking silently for about twenty minutes when, out of nowhere, a hand stretched out and grabbed Remus by the shoulder. Remus gasped, and Rose had to cover her mouth to keep from doing the same.

"P-professor Dumbledore!" cried Remus, "I-I was just trying to find your office…I thought you might be awake, and if you don't mind, there's something I'd really like to talk to about."

"Yes," said Dumbledore, smiling down at Remus, "I too find that my most pressing matters arise in the dead of night. Shall we go to my office?"

Remus nodded, and began to walk again. Dumbledore went with him, but paused a moment, and turned around to face Rose, who had been standing motionless just three feet away from them He smiled at her, and made a gesture for her to follow. Shocked and confused, Rose pursued them, keeping her distance, until they reached the outside of Dumbledore's office. As Remus entered, Dumbledore turned, yet again, to Rose, and held out his hand, meaning for her to wait outside. She nodded, and sank to the floor with her ear pressed against the door after Dumbledore had gone in.

"Now," said Dumbledore in a rather jubilant manner, "tell me, what is so pressing a matter that it could not have waited until morning?"

As Remus remained silent, no doubt trying to think of a suitable way to put his thoughts into words without resorting to shouting again, someone stepped on Rose's foot.

"Ouch! What the…Sirius? What are you doing here?"

Sirius grinned, "You're not the only one who wants to know what's going on in there," he whispered, "James and Peter are here, too."

"Hey, Rose," said Peter, looking frightened and as if he would be perfectly willing to go back to bed if the idea was brought up.

"Okay, so no matter what Dumbledore says to him," James whispered, "there's no way we're letting him go. Agreed?"

"Agreed," all of them muttered.

"Shut up, he's talking!" Rose hissed.

"W-well sir," Remus said shakily, "It concerns me being…what I am."

"You are many things, my dear Mr. Lupin, none of them nearly as bad as you make it sound-"

"Exactly!" muttered Sirius from outside. Rose gave him a swift kick in the shin.

"-but are you referring to your lycanthropy?"

"His _what?"_ asked Peter, confused.

"It means he's a werewolf," muttered James.

"Oh."

"Yes, sir," they heard Lupin say softly from the other side of the door, "and I think I finally understand the danger that I put people in."

"Remus, you are no danger to anyone in this school any more than I am," said Dumbledore firmly, but gently.

"Well," said Remus, refusing to give up, "I…you see I…I was careless last night and my friend, James, saw me transform near the wood and…professor I could have killed him!" Remus had once again succumbed to tears, "I very nearly did! What if happens again? I don't want to hurt anyone!"

"Liar!" whispered James, angrily, "he didn't even see me! How could he have come close to killing me if I was gone before he was done transforming or whatever its called?"

"Shhh!" Rose hissed at him.

"Remus," Dumbledore said so softly, that the four children outside had trouble hearing him even with their ears pressed against the door, "there are a number of things I could say to you in an attempt to make you change your mind about what you intend to do because of this sudden revelation, one of them being that I refuse to allow you to leave this school, and I'm quite sure your sister would agree with me. She is your guardian, is she not?"

Remus must have nodded through his tears, because Dumbledore went on, "but there are some people outside the door whom I believe can do a much better job of it. Mr. Potter, Miss Clarke, Mr. Black, Mr. Pettigrew!" he called, "Would you please join us? The door is not locked."

Remus sobbed even harder as the four of them awkwardly shuffled into the office. He was seated in a rather large wooden chair in front of Dumbledore's desk, which Dumbledore himself was standing beside, smiling across the room at them as they entered.

"That's, come on in, don't be shy!" said Dumbledore, still smiling, "Now, will you please see what you can do to calm your poor, distraught companion? No doubt, that is what you came to do in the first place."

"Er…" said James uncomfortably, looking at Dumbledore as though not entirely pleased with the fact the Headmaster was present for a conversation happening in his own office. However, Dumbledore seemed to have taken a sudden fascination with design of the wallpaper, so James was able to continue, "Remus, you're blowing this whole thing way out of proportion, mate. Yeah, I saw you last night. Big deal! Now that we know what's going on, we'll stay out of the way when you have to go…off, and that way no one will get hurt! Problem solved…right?" he concluded, uncertainly.

"You don't understand," said Remus, beginning to regain some of his composure so that he could at least speak in coherent sentences, "I'm not _me_ when I transform. I can't recognize anyone, anything! I'd kill any one of you without a second thought!" he said, glancing at his friends around him, "If you could find me, James, then anyone could! No one's safe!"

"We could be with you when it happens," Rose said softly, "Not close enough so that you could _see_ us!" she added hurriedly, catching Remus' petrified glare, "Just so that we could see if there's anyone coming near you…so you don't go into the school or anything."

"And what would you do if I started to go toward the school?" snapped Remus, "Throw yourselves at me? Kill yourselves?"

"Couldn't we just…Stun you?" asked Sirius hesitantly, "or put a Body Binding curse on you or something…just until you're…you again?"

"Werewolves are too fast, and too big," Remus said in despair, "It would take all four of you doing the same curse at once to bring me down, and I doubt one of you could catch me."

"You do know, of course, Remus," said Dumbledore, his attention finally drawn away from the wallpaper, "that werewolves can understand the language of most other animals?"

"Yes…" Remus replied slowly, "but the animals can't understand the language of the werewolf…why?"

"Don't you think that might be a bit shocked, while in your transformed state, if another animal were to call you by your human name? At least long enough to be taken down with a simple curse?"

"Yes but…I don't think you can train an animal to do something like that…" Remus said, trying to comprehend what Dumbledore was saying.

"Werewolves are not the only wizards with the power to transform," he said, "and on that note, I think it best that you all went to bed."

Dumbledore ushered them out of his office, and the five children walked silently back to the Gryffindor common room.

As soon as they had climbed through the portrait hole, Rose said, "Do you think Dumbledore was talking about Animagi?"

"I might," said Sirius, "if I knew what that was."

Rose rolled her eyes and said, "An Animagus is someone who can turn into an animal whenever they want. It takes a lot of work, and you have to get registered to do it legally, but it's possible…"

"So, if we were these Animagi people, we could talk to Remus while he was…wolfish?"

"Yeah, you could," said Remus slowly, "…_if_ you could do it…that just might work."

"It's settled then," said James, yawning, "Remus, you're not going anywhere, and we'll all start figuring our how to become Animagi. Now I don't know about you guys, but I'm about to pass out on the floor if I don't get to bed soon, so let's turn in for the night, okay? 'Night, Rose," he said, as the boys headed for their dormitory, and Rose climbed toward hers."

"'Night, guys."

Despite being exhausted, Rose would not sleep well tonight. That night's events had given her far too much to think about.

**A/N: REVIEW! PLEASE! Yes, I've resorted to begging. Sorry if there are a lot of spelling/grammar mistakes. For some reason I'm tired, and don't feel like reading this over. I'll edit it tomorrow, but if you read it before then, just try to excuse it. New chapter soon! Review!!!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Receiving a piping hot batch of freshly baked virtual cookies for Padfoot and Wing's first review is…4herprince!!! YAY!!! See how deliriously happy one little review can make me? There's more virtual treats in store for anyone who reviews this and further chapters! You know you want them…haha okay, so I didn't go back and fix all my horrible spelling/grammar mistakes on the last chapter because I really wanted to get this one up for you guys as soon as possible, so sorry if anyone really cared. On with chapter 3!**

Two years later, Rose, Sirius, Peter, James, and Remus stood huddled in a circle in the recently deserted Gryffindor common room. The silence of anticipation hovered over their heads as they all wondered whether the past two years of hard work had paid off. Would it work? Could they do it? They were just a bunch of teenagers, after all…

"Well," said Rose after a considerably long period of tense silence, "I guess I'll go first, then."

She stepped out of the circle they had unknowingly formed, and found a vacant area of the room. Breathing deeply, she cleared her mind of all thoughts…letting pure instinct overtake her…nothing mattered but the will to survive…

With a sudden lurch, Rose doubled over as she felt the sharp pain of her bones contracting. She struggled to keep from crying out as she heard the muffled shouts of concern from across the room. Then, it was over. The others had run over to her now, looking wildly around them as if they couldn't find her.

"Rose?" called Sirius, "You alright? Did it work? Where are you?"

It was only then that Rose realized that she had somehow flung herself behind a massive armchair, and was lying on the floor, out of sight. She quickly got to her feet, and headed toward her friends.

"_Merlin_, Rose!" Remus exclaimed as his eyes found her, "You've gotta see yourself!"

Peter was sent to get a mirror, and returned a moment later with a tall, oval-shaped mirror that had undoubtedly come from the boys' dormitory. Grinning, he set down the mirror in front of Rose, and she peered into it. She had become a beautiful, enormous golden owl. She had sharp, green eyes that stood out from her gold-colored feathers, and long, dangerous-looking talons at the bottom of her thin, bony legs. She was nearly twice the size of Peter, and at least ahead taller than the rest of the boys. She admired her appearance for a while, and then turned away from the mirror, wondering how she was supposed to change back into a human.

Not noticing her dilemma, James cried out, "She needs a nickname! We all need nicknames!"

"Whatever you say, James," Remus said, laughing.

"What nickname would you give her, James?" asked Sirius, skeptically, "Goldilocks?"

Rose tried to laugh, but it came out more like a hoot.

"What's that, Rose?" Sirius asked, chuckling, "You like Goldilocks, do you?"

Rose nipped him on his finger with her sharp beak.

"Ouch! I was only kidding," he pouted.

"What, then?" asked James, "Beaky? Feathers? Bird Brain?"

Rose made an attempt to roll her eyes, but was rather unsuccessful.

"What about Wing?" asked Remus thoughtfully.

Rose hooted her approval, and the name Wing was decided upon. When she was finally able to return to human form, James eagerly decided to change next. James' Animagus turned out to be a magnificent stag, and Sirius came up with the nickname Prongs. Next, Sirius transformed into a big black dog, and Remus suggested that they call him Padfoot. Peter went last, and changed into a small brown rat, which James dubbed worthy of the name Wormtail. Unwilling to allow Remus to be left out, Rose gave him the name Moony.

So, the gaggle of fourth year friends had become Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wing. Rose grinned as she thought of how they would be able to help Remus. This was only proof that the friendship they had could, and always would overcome the power of separation.

**A/N: Okay, I know it's a very short, very predictable chapter. I'm sorry. This is the end to what has been, for me, a series of chapters that have been painfully boring to write (though I hope they haven't been as painful to read) and here's where the fun starts. Now that we have the nicknames and the Animagi in place, I have room to do pretty much whatever I want in future chapters! Yay! Another chapter very soon! Review, please! Tell me how you're liking the story so far! Bye for now!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks to xx-twilighted-xx for my second review! Virtual brownies for you!!! Don't worry; by the way, I have no intention of stopping this story, no matter how slow the reviews are coming. I'm having way too much fun with it! **

**Disclaimer: …yep…still not JK Rowling…still don't own any of her characters!**

As the years went by, the five friends remained as close as ever. Thanks to their newly discovered animal forms, Sirius, James, Rose, and Peter were able to convince Remus to stay in school, and to stay with him when the full moon appeared.

Rose lay in her bed at home, reflecting on the past year. Only hours before, she had bade farewell to her friends, promising to write, and walked away from her fifth year at Hogwarts. It was just beginning to strike her that she had only two years left at school…two years left of living within calling distance of her friends. What would happen to them after their seventh year was over? Frustrated with the turn her thoughts had taken, Rose leaped out of bed, and quietly crept into the kitchen, being careful not to wake her parents or brothers.

It was two o'clock in the morning, and there was a thunderstorm raging outside. It was also bitterly cold. Rose wrapped herself in a blanket, and curled up onto the couch, reaching for her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, intending to get a head start on their homework over the summer, when she heard a gentle knock on the window. She turned to the window, expecting to find that a branch from a nearby tree had tapped on the glass, but she was astonished to see Sirius black looking back at her and shivering. Rose hurried over to the window, and threw it open.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered.

"I'm dripping wet and freezing," said Sirius with a slightly sarcastic tone, "could you _please_ let me in?"

"Go around back," Rose instructed him.

He obeyed, and Rose hurried to unlock and open the door. As he stepped inside the house, still violently shivering, Rose retrieved the blanket she had left on the coach, and tried to help Sirius dry himself off. He smirked.

"Thanks, Rose, but I think I can manage," he said, taking the blanket from her.

"Sirius, what's wrong?" Rose asked, knowing that Sirius would not walk to her house in the middle of a thunderstorm at two in the morning for a casual visit.

"I'm really sorry," he apologized, "I was halfway to James' place when I remembered they're on holiday in Spain for the summer. Your place was the next closest."

"That didn't answer my question," she smiled sympathetically.

"Nothing's wrong," Sirius replied, with no trace of a lie in his voice, "My parents kicked me out of the house, and I was happy to oblige. No, really, Rose, I _wanted_ to leave," he said reassuringly, seeing Rose's horrified expression, "My house is full of obsessive pure-blood Death Eaters, remember? Plus, I don't have to stay here. I can try to find a decent relative tomorrow; I just needed a place to stay until this storm lets out."

"Don't be thick, you're not going anywhere," said Rose stubbornly, causing a wide grin to spread across Sirius' face, "Did you think I'd just let you wander around out there, looking for some other evil Black to take you in?"

"No," he said, grinning wider still, "but I had to be polite, now didn't I?"

Rose punched him playfully in the arm.

"You git," she said fondly.

"Thanks, though. Honestly, I mean it. Thanks for everything."

"What are friends for?"

"Apparently," said Sirius, one eyebrow arched, "friends are for taking you in when maniac mothers disown you and throw you away like a nasty used toothbrush."

Laughing, Rose said, "I never thought I'd see the day when Sirius Black identified himself with an old toothbrush."

"Don't get used to it," he said, also laughing.

Then the two of them climbed up the stairs to Rose's bedroom. Sirius stretched out on the floor at the foot of Rose's bed.

No sooner had she turned out the light than she heard soft snoring from where Sirius lay. Smiling she curled up in her bed and was very soon asleep herself.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Two weeks after Sirius had come, Rose woke up to a note that crumpled into a ball where Sirius normally slept:

_Gone to Remus'. Thanks for nothing,_

_Sirius_

**A/N: Oh no! A cliffhanger! Wondering what happened? You'll have to wait! New chapter soon! Review!**


	6. Chapter 5

Rose stared at the note, reading and rereading it, trying to find some clue as to what could have possibly made him go. When the note offered nothing, she thought back to the past two weeks. Had she said something to offend him without realizing it? No…she couldn't think of a single thing she'd said that could have been taken the wrong way…and she had never considered Sirius a very sensitive person anyway.

So what happened? During the day directly before he had apparently left, he seemed perfectly normal…normal for Sirius, that is. She had noticed absolutely nothing amiss. She could think of only one thing to do at this point. She had to write to Remus. Maybe Sirius had mentioned something to him once he'd gotten there. She pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. She wrote sloppily because, for some unfathomable reason, her hand was shaking.

_Remus,_

_Sorry I haven't answered that last owl you sent me. I've honestly been meaning to…I just forgot. I looked, and I don't have any of your books with me, sorry. I'd ask James if I were you…could be his idea of a joke._

_I also wanted to know whether Sirius got to your place alright. He was here for a couple of weeks and then just sort of…left. The note he left sounded a bit strange, like he was angry about something, and I can't figure out what it is. I was just wondering if he'd mentioned anything to you about it. Write back as soon as you can._

_Rose_

She let the family owl, Rowan, out from his cage, and tied the letter to his leg. She watched as he flew out of sight, and sighed. With nothing further to do, she decided to go down to breakfast, and then spent the rest of the day waiting for Remus' reply. His letter came that night.

_Rose,_

_Sirius got here about two hours before I got your letter. He's fine…well…I mean he's not injured or anything. Rose, I don't know what, but something's wrong with him. He hardly ever speaks, and he spent most of the day curled up on my bedroom floor, moping. He's really got me worried. Any suggestions?_

_Remus_

Rose groaned. She hadn't the slightest idea what they were going to do about this. Grabbing her quill from her dresser, she turned over Remus' note, and scribbled frantically on the back.

_I'm coming over there. I might get there before the letter, so sorry for the intrusion, but we have to work this out._

_Rose_

Rose took a deep breath, and once again changed into her beautiful golden Animagus form. Stretching her long wings briefly, she headed for her bedroom window, jumped out, and began to circle the area around her home within a ninety mile radius. She had absolutely no idea where Remus lived…she began to rethink her attempt at finding it, when she caught sight of Remus standing outside a small house, waving his hands above his head. She landed directly in front of him, and changed back into human form.

"Just how exactly did you think you were going to find the place?" asked Remus with a slight smirk on his face.

"Not one of my brightest ideas," Rose admitted, "Where is he?"

"Upstairs."

They entered the little blue house, and ran up the staircase into what Rose assumed was Remus' bedroom. There was very little in the room. It consisted of a bed, a desk, and a chair. The walls were bare except for a picture on the wall of Remus, Sirius, Peter, James, and Rose, all grinning and waving at the camera. In the far corner of the room was Sirius, with his knees drawn up to his chest and his head down.

When he looked up, Rose could clearly see that he had been crying. His eyes were red-rimmed and his cheeks were stained with tears. What could have possibly caused this?

He glared at her, but seeing as he would have to walk directly past her in order to leave the room, he remained where he was.

Unsure of what to say, Rose stammered, "Sirius, I-"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sirius cut her off.

"What do you _think_ I'm doing here?" she asked, frustrated, "Your note wasn't exactly reassuring! Why did you go?"

"Maybe I'm just sick and tired of acting like a sitting target! Maybe we all are, little miss Death Eater!"

"What did you just call me?! Sirius, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"You can drop the act, Rose. Your brothers spilled the beans. Now. Get. Out."

With some extreme difficulty, Remus managed to force Rose out of the room.

"We'll talk later," he whispered when they were out of Sirius' earshot, "there's obviously been some huge misunderstanding. I'll try to get him to talk to me, and then I'll write to you."

"DON'T BOTHER, REMUS!" Rose shouted so that Sirius would be able to hear her, "LET HIM BELIEVE WHAT HE RUDDY WELL WANTS! GREAT FRIEND, AREN'T YOU, SIRIUS?! WE'VE BEEN BEST FRIENDS FOR FIVE YEARS, AND YOU'LL BELIEVE SOMETHING YOU HEARD FROM MY IDIOT BROTHERS WHEN I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT? WELL, GOOD RIDDANCE!"

And with that, she stomped out the door, slamming it behind her. Sirius watched as a beautiful golden owl flew past his window without glancing at him.

Nothing made sense anymore.

**A/N: Ew…another cliffhanger…I really didn't want to just end it like that, believe me…would have been a longer chapter, but I've got a stupid Latin test to study for, and I wanted to put something up for you guys tonight. I'll try to get another one up tomorrow! Review, please!**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! Okay, so I'm coming up against a bit of a problem…my laptop has suddenly decided not to work anymore…so I have to work on the family computer, which is often occupied by my parents who need it for work, so I apologize if the chapters start coming a bit slowly. I'm still going to try to post a chapter every day, but if that's impossible, I promise you a post at least twice a week.**

**So, for two chapters in a row, I've been working to confuse you guys. Hopefully, you haven't figured out what's going on, because that would make this enlightenment chapter more or less unnecessary. Even if you have, though, Rose, Sirius, and Remus definitely haven't, so read on!**

**Disclaimer: One would think you'd have caught on to this already…but for safety's sake, you are still reading a story written by someone other than JK Rowling, and the author of this story still doesn't own any of her characters.**

What had just happened? Sirius had never acted like that before; he'd always been on Rose's side. This time he hadn't even stopped to listen to her. He'd just called her a Death Eater! Where on earth had _that_ come from? She landed gracefully on her bedroom floor through the window, and promptly changed back into human form. She immediately headed toward her brother, Alex's bedroom.

Alex was the closest to her in age, being only one year older. Coincidentally, the two of them were fairly close. They prided themselves on being honest with each other, but Rose had a burning suspicion that their unwritten code of honesty had been broken for some time.

When she reached Alex's room, she knocked once on the door before throwing it open without waiting for an answer. Her oldest brother, Riley, had once shared his room with Alex, but he had moved out of the house the previous year when he had secured a job at the Ministry of Magic in the department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"What's up, Rose?" Alex asked, putting his pencil down, and looking up at her.

Alex was always writing. Rose never really knew what he wrote about, only that he always did. She had always pictured him becoming a famous novelist one day.

"Come to Matthew's room with me for a minute," Rose said, struggling to keep her voice calm, "I want a word with you two."

Alex's smile faded, and he eyed her with suspicion as if he knew exactly what Rose wanted to talk about, and had absolutely no desire to discuss the matter. He frowned for a moment before slowly getting out of the chair he had been sitting in, and wordlessly following her down the hall to their older brother's bedroom.

Not bothering to knock on the door, Rose threw it open, revealing Matthew sitting on his bed, deeply immersed in the book he was reading. Alex hesitantly entered the room behind her.

"What do want?" snapped Matthew without looking up.

"I need to talk to you." Rose answered, still struggling to keep her anger from showing through in her tone.

Matthew sighed, and set his book down on the table beside his bed, and stood up.

"About what?"

Rose took a deep, steadying breath before replying, "Sirius left last night. When I went to go see if he was alright, he called me a Death Eater," she said simply, "I want to know why. _Now_."

Matthew looked nervous for a second, and then quickly relaxed, "Why should we know about your stupid friend's problems?" he asked nonchalantly, "I haven't said a word to the git since he got here. Have you Alex?"

Alex shook his head slightly, staring at Rose with a petrified expression.

"Don't lie to me," Rose said, getting frustrated, "he said he heard something from you…I don't know what, but you two made him leave."

Matthew looked utterly confused until Alex said softly, "Matthew, I…I think he might have heard us last night."

Bitter realization dawned on Matthew's face. He let out a heavy sigh.

"Rose," he said slowly, "we're really not supposed to tell you anything…mum and dad wouldn't want me to say anything. They don't think you're ready yet."

Rose rolled her eyes impatiently, "Since when do _you_ listen to anything mum and dad say?"

Matthew laughed softly under his breath, "Yeah…yeah, you're right."

"Matthew, I really don't think-"

"Shut up, Alex!" Matthew snapped, looking at Rose thoughtfully, "She's part of the family, isn't she? She has as much a right to know as you do."

"But…but Riley-"

"Isn't here right now," said Matthew darkly, glaring at Alex, "and I'm sure he'd understand. He wouldn't want Rose to be ignorant forever, would he?"

Alex was silent. His horrified eyes had never once left Rose's face. Hungry for information, however, Rose decided to ignore him for the time being.

"I'm listening," she said, looking pointedly at Matthew.

Matthew walked up and down his room for a few moments, thinking, before turning back to her and saying very slowly, still thinking, "You know, Rose, it's a good thing that your friends gone, really. He never should have come in the first place. He…doesn't belong here."

"There's nothing wrong with Sirius!" Rose exclaimed, glaring at her brother.

"Let me finish!" he snapped, "Mum and dad didn't want him here, either. He's a bad influence on you, Rose…giving you ideas."

"Ideas about what?"

"He's turning you into a Mudblood- lover, Rose, and that's dangerous."

"Don't call them that!" shouted Rose, "What do you have against Muggle-borns?"

"Their existence, I suppose," Matthew retorted with a tone of disgust.

"What's wrong with you? What would mum and dad say if they heard-"

"They agree with us. Alex, show her your arm."

Rose's gaze turned expectantly toward Alex, who was holding his left arm, looking more petrified than ever. He shook his head.

"Alex, _show her your arm!_"

With a desperate glance at the door, as though looking for some sort of help, Alex rolled up the sleeve of his left arm.

Rose gasped. There, engraved into his skin, was what was undoubtedly the Dark Mark. Matthew rolled up his own sleeve, showing that he possessed it as well.

"That's why he called you a Death Eater," said Matthew softly, surveying her mortified expression, "because that's what we are. It isn't an insult, Rose; it's an honor. We can help to get rid of every Muggle, every Mudblood. We can create a perfect world."

Rose was silent. How could her own family…work for Lord Voldemort?

"Mum and dad, too?" she asked in a whisper.

Matthew nodded.

"Well not me!" Rose exclaimed with defiance, "I'll never work for Voldemort! I don't want to kill people!"

"Fine," said Matthew calmly, a smile dancing in his eyes, "then I'll just go tell mum and dad!"

"Matthew, _no_!" screamed Alex, "You can't! What about Riley?!"

"What about him?" he asked coldly, "Ignore him, Rose."

"No! Rose, listen to me!" Alex yelled desperately, "He'll kill you! Dad'll kill you like he killed Riley! You've got to get out of here!"

Matthew grabbed Alex by the collar and lifted him off the ground.

"SHUT UP, ALEX!" he roared, "Riley got what was coming to him, and so will she! You live for the Dark Lord, now, and don't you _dare_ forget it!"

Alex grabbed his wand from his pocket, "Stupefy!" he screamed, pointing it directly at Matthews throat.

Matthew fell to the ground. Alex grabbed Rose's sleeve, and began to tug her toward the door.

"You've got to get out of here!"

"Alex, did dad…did he really kill Riley?"

Alex nodded, tears swimming in his eyes.

Rose silently followed brother toward the back door of the house, hardly believing what she had just witnessed. He shoved her out.

"Don't come back here," he warned her, "they'll kill you, too."

"But…" said Rose hesitantly, "what will they do to you?"

Alex smiled sadly at her.

"NO!" shouted Rose, "no, come with me! We can leave together! You don't have to do this!"

Alex bit his lip.

Suddenly, they heard their father's voice coming from Matthew's room, "What the…Alex? Rose? Get up here!"

"He's coming!" Alex said frantically, as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, "Go!"

"Come with me!"

Alex shook his head, "I can't. I'll be fine, just _go!_ Please!"

Not knowing what else to do, Rose left the house and hid in the bushes in her backyard.

From inside her home, she heard her father scream, "Avada Kadavra!"

A flash of green light radiated throughout the house. Alex was gone. Tears streaming down her face, Rose left her home for the last time.

**A/N: Okay. I'm in a very bad mood after writing that…I tried **_**really **_**hard to find a way to let Alex live, but it wasn't going to happen. Yeah, I'm pretty depressed right now. I'm not reading this over because I have to leave now, so excuse any errors. Oh, well. Review, please!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Okay, so Alex's death was painful for me, but I'm starting to recover now so I'm going to try and write a chapter that's not COMPLETELY bogged down with depression. Here's chapter 7! **

Three days after Alex had been killed; Rose still had absolutely nowhere to go. Home clearly was not an option; James was on holiday with his family, and Peter lived on the other side of the country. That left Remus' house, and Rose wasn't quite sure that she was ready to face any remarks or disbelieving sneers from Sirius yet, not so soon after the death of her brother.

Finally realizing that she had no other choice, Rose arrived at the front of Remus' tiny blue house. She hesitated for a moment before knocking gently on the door. A girl who looked in her mid-twenties answered the door. This must have been Remus' sister, his guardian. Rose reflected briefly on the fact that she had no idea what had happened to Remus' parents. She thrust the thought aside for the moment, and addressed the girl at the door.

"Er…is Remus here? I'd like to speak to him."

"Oh, you must be Rose, then!" exclaimed the girl, and Rose nodded, "Remus talks about you and your friends endlessly…I'm Lucy by the way. Remus is upstairs."

With a polite "thank you," Rose dashed up the stairs, and into Remus' bedroom. Thankfully, Remus was there, and Sirius wasn't.

"Rose?" Remus said, startled, "what are you-"

Before Remus could finish his question, the fullness of everything that had happened to her in the past three days came crashing down on her, and she flung her arms around Remus' neck, sobbing into his chest. Remus seemed to understand the grief she was feeling, even though he hadn't the slightest idea what was going on. He held her to him gently as she cried for her lost family, those who were dead, and those who were as good as.

It was at this moment that Sirius chose to enter the room. At the sight of Rose, a mess in Remus' arms, his face betrayed only mild shock. Clearly, he was still holding a grudge, and now Rose knew why. He positioned himself at the foot of Remus' bed, continuing to stare at them, his expression unchanging. When Rose had finally stopped crying, she untangled herself from Remus' grip, and sank to the floor, exhausted. She had not slept in three days, nor had she eaten. Remus crouched down beside her, while Sirius continued to stare.

"Rose, what happened? What's wrong?" Remus asked her softly.

Rose could not speak in coherent sentences. In a monotonous voice, she replied "Riley…Alex…dead. Matthew…mum…dad…V-voldemort! I…I couldn't do it and…and dad…he killed him! He _killed_ him!"

Remus turned to Sirius with a questioning look in his eyes. What was she talking about? Sirius, however, was shocked.

"You…you really didn't know, did you?" he asked, staring at her intently.

Rose shook her head. She wanted more than anything for Sirius to believe her.

"I don't get it…they said…your brothers…I heard them saying that you…you'd been trying to kill the lot of us all along. I thought…" Sirius was beginning to sound deeply ashamed of himself now, "I thought you were one of them."

"How could you think that?" Rose whispered. She had run out of the energy to be angry, "How could I ever betray my friends like that?"

"You thought she was a _Death Eater_?" asked Remus, bewildered, "You're insane, mate. Insane, or extremely thick."

Sirius looked as though he hadn't heard Remus. His eyes were swimming with tears. He understood now. Rose was in the same situation that he was in…the very same. They were both decent people in a family of Death Eaters. The only difference was that Rose had had it thrust upon her all at once…and he had made it worse. How could he have been so heartless, so _idiotic_?

He dropped to his knees, and pulled Rose into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered through tears, "I'm _so _sorry."

"Not your fault," Rose murmured, not yet out of her stage of shock.

Despite all of the horrible things that had come to pass, Remus couldn't help but smile. Friends are the strongest together, and now that everything was beginning to be made right between friends, he could be confident that it would all turn out right in the end.

**A/N: Yeah, I know, it was an INSANELY short chapter, but it had the one purpose of getting Rose and Sirius to make up, so I saw no point in beating around the bush. That, and the fact that it's been a very long day, it's 11:30, and I'm exhausted. I promise much longer chapters in the future! The next chapter should be up sometime tomorrow. Review, please! Bye for now!**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: I confess that I could have had this chapter up sooner, but it would have been crap. I completely lost my inspiration for a while, and I've spent the past few days trying to come up with something that basically….doesn't suck lol. Here's what I came up with!**

The rest of the summer went by fairly quickly and peacefully. Being surrounded by her friends all the time helped Rose to keep her mind off of anything related to her family…most of the time. Soon after Rose had arrived, they had written to James and Peter, telling them everything that had happened. It would save them the awkward conversation when they returned to school in September.

Peter wrote back, saying that he was "very, very sorry for everything that's happened to everyone," and that he wished he could be there with them, but his parents would never allow it. They received no reply from James. Instead, they found James on Remus' doorstep barely an hour after they had sent him his letter.

When Remus answered the door, the only comment James had made concerning his sudden appearance was, "You guys are _clearly_ incapable of managing without me, so I might as well stay here for a while and keep an eye on you."

During the day, keeping her mind off of her family was fairly easy. She could merely convince herself that nothing had happened, that it had all been a horrible nightmare. However, keeping her mind off things at night was quite another task. It is very hard to pretend that events didn't happen when one has fallen asleep. Matthew, Alex, and her father would often appear in her dreams, and sometimes her mind would even fabricate the event of Riley's death. The dreams began the night after she had arrived at Remus' home.

_Alex was standing directly in front of her, his eyes wide with fear. Rose knew what was coming. She had to stop it; she had to get him out of here. Footsteps could be heard in the distance, her father's footsteps. If they were going to escape, it had to be now. _

_Rose tugged on Alex's hand, "Come on, Alex, we have to get out of here! Now!"_

_Alex stood still for a moment, as though he had not comprehended what she had said. Then, realization dawning on his face, he began to follow her, slowly at first, and then speeding up to a sprint. They sped down a dark corridor, and through a wooden gate. Rose didn't know where they were going, but anywhere was better than here. _

_The footsteps were getting louder, faster, closer. Rose risked a glance over her shoulder. She saw the horrifying image of her father running at their heels. His eyes, normally round and hazel, were now glowing, red, and slit-like. The angry, bloodthirsty man behind her was scarcely recognizable as her father. She screamed in terror as he pulled his wand from his robes, and pointed it at the back of Alex's neck. _

"_Avada Kadavra!"_

_Her brother fell to the ground, the life leaving his eyes. Rose fell to her knees beside him, sobbing. Her father's red eyes turned to her. She screamed._

She was still screaming when she awoke. Panting, she slowly brought herself back to reality, attempting to take in her surroundings. Tearstains lined her cheeks, evidence that she had been crying as well as screaming in her sleep. She was also no longer in her spot on the floor in Remus' bedroom. She was on the couch in his living room, curled up with someone's arms wrapped around her. Slightly embarrassed, Rose looked up to see Sirius absentmindedly running his hand through her hair. He clearly didn't know that her own scream had awoken her. Smiling, she caught his hand as it ran down her long hair once more.

"You awake?" he whispered.

"Mhm," she murmured, still half asleep.

"They go away after a while, you know."

"What?" Rose asked, confused.

"The dreams. I had them, too. Then I realized that my family was just a bunch of good-for-nothing Death Eaters, and I moved on. It'll be harder for you; I get that…but it'll happen."

"Thanks," she said, doubting what he said was true, but grateful for it nonetheless.

Her gaze fell on the window, through which sunlight was beginning to pour.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Around five o'clock."

Seeing this as good a time as any to get up for the day, Rose threw back the blanket that had been covering them both, and wandered over to the stove.

"I think I'll make some hot chocolate," she said thoughtfully, "want some?"

"Why not?" replied Sirius, chuckling slightly at the sudden change of subject.

Rose busied herself with getting the oven prepared, and trying as hard as was humanly possible to avoid looking at Sirius. The simple truth was that Rose was not, and had never been, an extremely open person. If something was bothering her, she preferred to keep it to herself. She steered clear of awkward heart-felt conversations whenever possible. She knew that Sirius only wanted to help her, and he had been one of her best friends for years. It shouldn't have been awkward at all, but for some unfathomable reason, it was. Unfortunately, however, it's quite impossible to spend the entire day making one pot of hot chocolate, so Rose was soon forced to turn around.

She positioned herself on the couch next to Sirius, and carefully handed him his mug, being forced to look at him at last. There was a strange sort of sad-looking smirk on his face.

"So I guess you don't want to talk yet, then," he said slowly, looking directly into her eyes with a searching look.

Rose sighed. She wished she could tell him that she had no idea what he was talking about, but she would not lie to her friend. She hated liars.

"Sirius," she said very slowly, trying to put her thoughts into words, "I…I appreciate what you're trying to do; you're the best friend in the world, but honestly? I don't really need…or want…some kind of empathetic conversation right now. I get that we're pretty much in the same boat at the moment, but…I don't really want anyone's sympathy or understanding. I just want a friend…someone who can help me forget…sort of…just for now, anyway…until I'm ready to talk about it. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course!" Sirius said, nodding in a very understanding sort of way, "I'm here for whatever you need, Rose. We all are. You just let me know if you want to talk."

Rose grinned in relief.

"You're the best, Padfoot."

"I know," retorted Sirius with that familiar malicious grin spreading across his face.

Maybe it wouldn't be so difficult for everything to return to normal again among her friends. Maybe going back to school was exactly what she needed.

**A/N: Okay, it's a little corny, but I honestly believe that a story is incomplete without its corny moments. Like it? Hate it? Tell me! Review! I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner! **


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: Okay, this is what I've figured out in the past week; all of my teachers just LOVE to give triple the normal amount of homework during fourth term. Sadly, this means that updates are most likely only going to come on the weekends = (. Not only that, but this is also quite a sad chapter. Sorry, my feel good fans, but it had to happen. Lord Voldemort can't simply be ignored, but I promise that depression will not completely rule this story. Sorry for all of the sad news, guys, but things will look up soon! On the bright side, I finally updated! Here's chapter eight!**

The fact that the first day of school had come so quickly gave Rose mixed feelings. On one hand, she'd been looking forward to going back to school. It would be the perfect distraction; school was the biggest chance she had for life getting back to normal.

On the other hand, this year was her sixth year at Hogwarts…which meant that it would have been Alex's last. He'd often talked at home about how much he'd wanted to write for the Daily Prophet. Because he was constantly writing, Rose could easily picture him working for a newspaper. It seemed…natural…inevitable. Now, it wouldn't happen. Alex was gone…he was gone…dead.

Rose sighed. Her thoughts often went in this general direction in the early morning. She picked herself up off the ground. Since everyone was still asleep, she dragged her trunk downstairs before she started rifling through it, making sure she hadn't forgotten to pack anything. She had summoned her trunk, which had already been full, from her house about a week after she'd left. She pulled out all of her old text book, and began replacing them with her new ones. As she absentmindedly sifted through the pile of her old books, she came across one that did not have a title. In fact, she could not remember having this book at all.

It was fairly small, about half the size of one of her text books, and the front cover was covered in blue velvet. It was the book that Alex had been writing in just minutes before he died.

_How the hell did this get in here?_ Rose thought incredulously. Slowly, almost fearfully, she opened the book.

_Hey, Rose_

These were the only two words written on the first page. Apparently, this book had not gotten itself landed in her trunk by accident. Alex had meant for her to read it…but how had he gotten it into her trunk? It didn't make any sense. She turned the page.

_I know what you were thinking when you found this; and it's the same thing you're thinking now. Why did I put this thing in your trunk…and more importantly, how the hell did I do it? Hey, that wasn't funny. Stop smirking._

Rose laughed. She had been very close to her brother; they always knew how the other was feeling, what they were thinking. They might as well have been twins.

_There's that laugh I was looking for. So, anyway, if you really need to know, I'm going to drop it in your trunk the next time I walk by it. You always leave it open by the door…not too hard. So, the actual reason this is here is because, well…I'm dead, and there's a few things I was too afraid to tell you before I died…Rose, breathe, it's okay, I'll explain._

Rose let out the breath she had subconsciously been holding. How could he have known…?

_Like I said, there are a few things I haven't told you. One of them you'll already know by now. I'm a Death Eater; the whole family went down that road. Looks like you're the only sane one of the bunch, right? I honestly planned to tell you right here why I did it…but I don't even know. Who knows? Maybe you'll figure it out…er…somehow._

_Okay, so the second thing I need to tell you is what made the beginning of this…letter?...sound so eerie. It's why I know I'm going to die today. This is really hard to explain…I thought writing it down would make it easier…um…you know that freaky girl in my year who's always trying to sound 'mystical?' I think her name's Sibyl or something…Sibyl Trelawny I think. She says she's got the "Sight," which means she can predict the future. Well, she can't…she's just crazy, but I can. I don't know how it happened…and I can't choose when I get a prediction or not…it just sort of happens. It's happening a lot more than usual lately, though…yeah that pretty much clears up all the creepy-sounding stuff._

_Well, it should be about time now…I don't exactly know how I'm going to die…just that I will. I hope you're not there to see it. When it happens, Rose, I just need you to know that I'm ready. I swear I'm not just trying to make you feel bad. I am WAY beyond being scared for myself. Lately, I've been more worried about you. I saw something about you the other night…it wasn't really one of my clearest predictions…all I can see is darkness for you. Not much advice I can give you there…just be careful, alright? _

_That's about all I have to say right now. Seriously, Rose, don't beat yourself up over this. I'm a lousy, good-for-nothing Death Eater, remember? My life's not worth anything anymore, anyway. _

_God, I miss the time when we were kids. How the hell did it all end up like this? I guess that's life, though. You're probably the only person I care at all about right now, and I'm so sorry I've been lying to you about…everything._

_I love you, Rose. Forget me; I'm not worth it._

_Love you,_

_Alex_

By the time she had finished reading, Rose was crying uncontrollably. Alex had died thinking that his life was worthless. It couldn't have been! Her brother had been her best friend growing up. If his life didn't mean anything, his death wouldn't have affected her like this.

"Rose?"

It was Sirius. _Of course_ it was Sirius. Did he never sleep? There was no use trying to hide the fact that she was crying now; he had already seen most of it anyway. He knelt down beside her, where she was still sitting beside her trunk, bent over the little blue book.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry, Sirius," she choked out, "I-it's nothing really, I just-"

But Sirius had already taken the book out of her hands, and had begun to read it. When he was finished reading, he stared blankly at the bottom of the last page for a while, and then looked up at her with wide, sad, sympathetic eyes.

"Come here," he said gently, and pulled her toward him into a hug.

Rose lay there for a long time, sobbing into his chest. She'd feel embarrassed later, but right now, she needed to cry.

**A/N: Ugh…like I said…sad chapter. Alright, so I'm not going to be able to post tomorrow because I'm going to see a ballet with my friend (no I do not like ballet…but I'm going anyway to get out of the house) and I'm probably going to get home pretty late BUT, if I don't get a massive amount of homework on Monday, I'll get another chapter up then. Oh yeah, and it's 11:30 right now and I get really tired at around 11:00, so I'm going to bed now, not reading this over for errors. Sorry! The chances of me updating sooner are doubled, tripled, and quadrupled by your wonderful reviews!!! So do it! Review!**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: I have a couple of things to talk to you guys about real quick. First, I'm really sorry I couldn't get this up sooner. I've been crazy sick lately, and there was no way I could've written anything good. Also, Snoball13 brought up something in a review that I realize I probably should have explained better in the last chapter…oh well! That's what my author's notes are for! So, there is a bit of confusion over the fact that Alex knew he was a Seer, and that he was aware of his predictions, because Trelawny was completely oblivious to all two of her visions. Of course, I can't know for sure, but here's how I look at Seers: Trelawny **_**wasn't**_** one. She had the Sight in her bloodline. Her great grandmother…I think it was her great grandmother anyway haha…was a renowned and powerful Seer, and because of this, all of her direct descendents are subject to random occurrences of the second Sight. This doesn't apply to brothers and sisters and such of the original Seer, so Rose will not be getting random visions because of her relation to Alex. Any further questions, ask in a review, and I'll be sure to clear things up. =D This is a happy chapter for a change, so enjoy!**

"Rose! Rose, wake up! Come on, they're waiting in the common room! Hello?"

Rose woke up to someone shaking her shoulders and screaming in her ear.

"Ugh…good morning to you, too, James. How'd you get in here anyway?"

Boys weren't allowed in the girls' dormitories. When James tried to get in, the stairs leading up to them _should_ have turned into a slide that would not have allowed him to enter…but this was James, and James always found a way around the impossible. He rolled his eyes.

"It's an old spell, Rose. _Simple_. Now, are you coming down or what?"

"What for? It's six in the morning on a Saturday!"

"Only you would forget your own birthday. Fortunately for you, though, we didn't. Now, get _up_!"

Rose lazily swung her legs over the side of her bed, and blindly followed James down to the common room, where Peter, Sirius, and Remus were sitting half asleep in armchairs around the fireplace. Clearly, Rose had not been the only one forced out of bed at this early hour.

"Morning, Rose," said Remus, trying rather unsuccessfully to pick his head up from the arm of his chair.

Sirius groaned, "James, why did we have to get up so early? It'll still be her birthday in a couple of hours."

"Tradition, mate," replied James with a grin, "We used to get excited over birthdays, remember? We've gotten up at six for Rose's birthday ever since our first year."

"I say to hell with tradition," moaned Peter, "I'm going back to bed."

"Oh no you're not!" exclaimed Rose, nearly fully awake now, "For once, James is right. I think we should stick to tradition. We've only got two years left at school, and then we can't do any of this anymore. We should use the time we have."

"Okay, now you're just making me depressed," called Sirius from the farthest armchair, "C'mon guys, everyone up."

With great difficulty, the three boys managed to drag themselves out of their chairs while James very ostentatiously brought out a large bottle of sparkling cider and a massive chocolate cake from behind a chair.

"Sixteen, eh Wing?" he said as he tried to wrench the top off of the bottle of cider, "Next year we'll graduate to champagne or something!"

"You sound far too excited for that, Prongs," Rose replied, laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know Prongs'll be the first one to drink his body weight as soon as it's legal," said Sirius with a mock tone of boredom, "Tell me something I don't know."

When the entire cake had been eaten, and the bottle of sparkling cider completely drained, Remus announced that it was time to give Rose her gifts, and they all smirked as they watched her squirm uncomfortably at the very mention of the word.

"Oh, _please_!" laughed James, throwing a messily wrapped package into her lap, "Just open it! Consider it a punishment if it'll make you feel better."

Rose laughed, "A punishment for what?"

"I dunno…use your imagination. _Honestly_, Wing, do you need me to unwrap it for you, 'cause I will, you know."

With a good-natured scowl thrown in James' direction, Rose tore the wrapping paper off of a large manila envelope. Remus skeptically raised his eyebrows.

"Is there any particular reason you felt the need to wrap an envelope, Prongs?"

James shrugged, "Would've been too obvious."

"I dunno…the envelope's got me fooled," said Rose, turning it over as if its contents were written on the other side.

She then opened the envelope and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. She glanced at James with her eyebrows pulled together, confused. He grinned. She unfolded the paper….and it was blank. Not wanting to be rude, she quickly put a smile on her face, and looked at James.

"Thanks a bunch, Padfoot," she said as convincingly as she could, "I needed some new parchment for that Charms essay."

James roared with laughter, "It's like you don't know me at all, Rose. Give me your wand; I left mine upstairs."

Rose pulled her wand out of the pocket in her dressing robe, and handed it to James, who laid it gently on the empty parchment.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Rose's eyes widened as lines began to form on the formerly blank parchment. It was clearly a map of some sort. Words appeared next, some of them moving, some of them stationary. She traced the map with her finger, which came to rest on her own name. James grinned excitedly.

"It's a map of the school. It shows you exactly where everything and everyone in the castle is. Impressive, isn't it?"

"This is _amazing_, James! You're the best."

"Believe me, I know. Turn it over."

Flipping it over, she saw, written in big, bold lettering: **The Marauders' Map: Property of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wing.**

Rose arched an eyebrow.

"The Marauders?"

"Yeah, I thought it sounded cool. It's better than 'The Animals' or something, isn't it?"

"You're right, there," said Rose, laughing.

"Alright, alright, if James is done showing off, I've got something for you, too," said Remus, pushing a small package toward her.

Remus' gift turned out to be a silver charm bracelet with a wolf, owl, dog, rat, and stag all dangling from the chain. She swore to him that she'd never take it off. Peter gave her a deep blue necklace with massive fake stones that she'd never wear, but she pretended to be ecstatic all the same. It was Sirius' gift that nearly brought happy tears to her eyes. It was a photo album full of pictures of…Marauders. Now, at least she'd have something to look back on once their school years had come to an end. Just as she was closing the album, a picture fell out from between two pages. Before Rose could bend down to get it, Sirius had snatched it up and hidden it from view.

"Oh, please, Sirius, what is it?" she asked impatiently, holding her hand out for the picture behind Sirius' back.

"It's nothing," Sirius said quickly, trying to stuff it into his pocket, "that wasn't supposed to be in there."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"If it was nothing, you'd show it to us, mate."

Meanwhile, Peter had already snatched it from Sirius' grip.

"I'll get you for that, Wormtail," he muttered darkly, and watched apprehensively as his friends surveyed the picture.

To the left of the picture stood Sirius in a black suit with his hair tied back so tightly that his eyebrows were strained upward, and a smile that was clearly forced. To his left was a girl about their age with short blonde hair who looked deliriously happy. A closer look showed Rose that the girl was wearing a diamond ring.

"Er…mate?" asked James, obviously having noticed the ring as well, "who's the girl?"

Sirius let out a deep sigh, and looked at Rose with a defeated expression on his face, "That's Angel, my…_fiancée," _he spat out the last word with disgust.

"Your _what?!_" exclaimed Rose, completely shocked.

"It was an arranged marriage…there's nothing I can do about it. Both of our families are _purebloods_, so our parents forced us together."

"But…but your parents disowned you!" said Rose, a strange sinking feeling in her stomach, "they must have called the marriage off, right?"

"Wrong," he replied, shaking his head sadly, "no matter how much _my_ parents hate me; _hers_ love me, probably because _she_ does."

"But you…you don't-"

"No."

**A/N: Okay, so that last part…wasn't exactly happy…but compared to the rest of the stuff I've thrown at you, it wasn't that bad, right? At least, that was my goal. At least we finally get little hints from both of them that suggest that they **_**might**_** have feelings for each other. There's just one tiny problem in their way, the fact that Sirius is engaged. Fun stuff…yes, well I'm hoping to get another chapter up fairly soon, tomorrow if I can, but no promises. PLEASE review! Adieu!**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: I have to leave in about twenty minutes, so this isn't likely to be a long chapter. Sorry! I'll do as much as possible with the time I have. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! I'm not going to eat up time by naming you all, but if you've reviewed the last few chapters, you get virtual brownies! Yay!! Okay, here's the next chapter! **

The silence that followed was nearly palpable. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for someone else's reaction. Peter and James were eyeing Sirius wearily, almost frightened, as though they expected him to have some sort of nervous breakdown. Sirius' eyes had not yet left Rose, and Rose was busying herself by inspecting the common room floor.

"Well," said Peter, obviously trying to lighten the mood a bit, "at least we know why you've never had a girlfriend now, Padfoot. Engaged! Merlin's beard!"

"I don't think you're helping things, Wormtail," said James a bit too coldly, "Sirius is there any particular reason you didn't tell us? Honestly, I thought we'd heard the end of secrets after Remus'…eh…"

"Lycanthropy?" suggested Remus.

"Right. What's the big deal? So what, you're engaged. Fine! Why did _that_ have to be a secret?"

Sirius' eyes moved from Rose to James, giving him his how-can-you-possibly-be-that-thick glare. James looked completely confused. Sirius raised his eyebrows, and shifted his position slightly so that he was facing Rose, but not looking at her. She was still looking at the ground feeling, for some unfathomable reason, very uncomfortable.

"Oh!" exclaimed James, slapping his forehead, "I'm an idiot! I never…you…her..._bloody hell_ Sirius!"

"Yeah," said Sirius in a very exasperated tone, rolling his eyes.

Rose looked up, curiosity overcoming her discomfort.

"What?"

Sirius shook his head slightly at James, a motion that did not go completely unnoticed by Rose.

"It's uh…it's nothing, Rose, seriously," said James, struggling for words, "I…er…I'm just trying to get used to the idea, you know?"

"I'm not _stupid_, James," said Rose, her temper rising, "What is it? Why didn't he tell us?"

"I would've had to tell you at some point," Sirius said in a desperate attempt to change the subject, "What was I going to do? Get married without you lot knowing anything? I know you better than that. You would have found out soon enough. Come to think of it…I would have had to tell you _soon_."

"Why?" asked Rose, the sinking feeling returning to her stomach, "Are you getting married that soon?"

"Don't be thick, Wing," replied Sirius with a bit of a grimace, "Neither of us are seventeen yet; it wouldn't even be legal."

"Then what the hell are you talking about?" asked Remus, getting a bit exasperated himself.

"Angel…she's…er…she'll be here…at Christmas."

"Here…as in here at school?" James asked, his eyebrows raised, "Can she _do_ that?"

"Why doesn't she go here, anyway?" asked Peter.

"Her parents don't _approve_ of the way Dumbledore runs the place, so they sent her to Beauxbatons instead," Sirius told them, his shoulders shrugging, "And yeah, James, she _can_ do that. As much as her parents hate Dumbledore, they want her transferred here now that we're getting older so we can…er…get to know each other better."

"Why's she coming at Christmas?" asked Remus, confused, "Most people are going home…"

"Well, she's not coming on Christmas day, just at the start of break. Dumbledore thought it'd be a good idea if she got settled in while there weren't many people around…don't ask me why, 'cause I have no idea."

"What's this girl like?" asked James in a feigned offhand tone.

"A living nightmare," Sirius groaned, "She'd fit right in with my family. You know Narcissa, right? She's a seventh year."

"Unfortunately," said Peter rolling his eyes.

"Exactly," said Sirius, "She's _exactly_ like Narcissa, except for the fact that she's completely obsessed with me. I'll never get her off my back."

Sirius threw himself into an armchair. This was _not_ the conversation he wanted to have at the moment.

"Well uh…" Rose said awkwardly, "I…I'm sorry, Sirius. She sounds really...nasty, I guess. I…I'm just going to go back to my dormitory for a while, okay guys? I…er…didn't really get enough sleep. See you later."

With that, Rose nearly sprinted up the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory. Sirius gloomily watched her go. This had not particularly been a conversation he wanted to have with _Rose_ at the moment. He sighed, got up out of the armchair he'd been sitting in, and used the same excuse that Rose did to escape to his dormitory, leaving Peter, Remus, and James to discuss whatever the hell they wanted to. Just now, he didn't really care.

**A/N: Yeah…it's a very, very short chapter, but I don't have time to write any more. At least it's something, right? I have to leave now, so I can't read this over for errors, sorry! I'll have another chapter up sometime tomorrow. Review, please! Bye for now.**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: the Document Manager wasn't working **_**again**_** last night, so I couldn't post this when I finished it =(. Oh well, here it is!**

During the months that followed, Rose realized that time tends to hasten its speed when one is dreading something. It was for this reason that Christmastime seemed to be approaching more and more rapidly as the days went on. Soon enough, the list of who would be remaining at Hogwarts for the holiday was being passed around in the common room. Sirius reluctantly put his name down.

"I'd rather be back at your place, James," Sirius said with a sigh, "but Dumbledore thought it'd be a grand idea for me to stay and help Angel get settled in."

After hearing that Sirius had been kicked out of his house, James' parents had been quick to invite him to spend the holidays at theirs. Sirius had eagerly accepted the offer.

"It's alright, mate," said James, throwing a sympathetic arm over his shoulder, "I'd stay, too, to help you out a bit with this witch, but mum says we've got 'big plans.' Not entirely sure what that means, but she gets real excited over the holidays."

"Yeah, I'm going home, too," said Remus sadly passing the paper to Peter without putting his name down, "Christmas is hard for my sister. She'll need all the help she can get."

Peter swiftly handed the paper to Rose, "Yeah, my folks want me home, too. My mum's real sentimental; she doesn't want the family separated on holidays."

Sirius cast a rueful glance at Rose, who was still staring at the paper, "It's okay, Wing; you don't have to stay, either. I'm a big boy; I can take care of myself.

Rose gave him a disbelieving look and rolled her eyes, "Are you _thick_? Where the hell would I go?"

She scribbled her name onto the paper, and handed it to Frank Longbottom, who was sitting near the fire a few feet away from them. As Frank wrote his name down, Sirius was beginning to look and feel a bit awkward.

"Right…" he said, sounding embarrassed, "I…er…I'd forgotten."

"I know," said Rose, shrugging her shoulders, "Don't worry about it. At least now you won't have to deal with that maniac alone."

Sirius groaned inwardly, wishing that one of the boys were staying, or that Rose still had a home to go to. The idea of being alone with Rose and Angel in the same room made him feel extremely uneasy.

"Yeah, it'll be good to have you around for back up," he said with a forced smile on his face.

Looking around and seeing that the common room was now completely empty, Remus jumped to his feet.

"Wow, guys, it's really late…we'd better get to Potions."

With a lot of complaining and moaning from the group as a whole, they all got to their feet, and headed down to the dungeons.

Sirius grabbed a seat in between James and Remus. Rose and Peter were sitting at the table in front of them. After about five minutes of listening to Slughorn's monotonous description of the properties of Moonstone, James' eyes began to wander. He grabbed a quill and parchment from his bag, and scribbled something that was hardly legible, and handed it to Sirius.

_Alone with Wing and Miss Bride-to-be next week, eh? That's tough, mate._

Sirius rolled his eyes fondly at James. His best friend knew him far too well.

_**You've got that right. Any suggestions?**_

When James had read the note, he looked up at Sirius, and raised an eyebrow. Thinking for a moment, he slowly wrote his reply, and handed it to Sirius.

_You could end this bizarre infatuation with her! Then getting married wouldn't be so difficult, now would it?_

_**It's NOT an infatuation, and I told you I AM over it. It's just going to be…awkward…you know?**_

_Whatever you say, mate._

With that, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Sirius snatched up the paper, and stuffed it deep into his bag before leaving the classroom. Rose caught up with Remus at the end of the corridor.

"So, what's wrong with Sirius?"

"What do mean?" asked Remus, confused.

"Oh, you _know_," she said, rolling her eyes, "He's been acting really…strange lately. I was just wondering if you knew why."

"Well, I suppose he's still thrown off by the whole 'being engaged' thing," he said, shrugging.

"But he's been engaged for years!" exclaimed Rose, "Shouldn't he be used to the idea by now?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Remus said thoughtfully, "but maybe her coming to the school and all made it more _real _for him, you know?"

"Yeah, that's probably it," Rose reluctantly agreed.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Despite Sirius' fervent hopes to the contrary, the day that Angel Clarence was to arrive at Hogwarts had come all too soon. He had been told to meet her in the Great Hall. Thankfully, James, Peter, and Remus had stuck around for the morning. They were due to leave about an hour after Angel arrived. The boys, along with Rose, stood with Sirius in the Great Hall silently, waiting to meet his future wife.

"Is that her?" Peter asked, as he spotted a girl approaching them from the other side of the Hall.

"Yeah," said Sirius with a sigh.

Angel was a tall girl with short blonde hair and small brown eyes. She was so thin that Rose could have sworn she could see the outline of her bones through her skin. Despite the cold weather, she had a surprisingly tanned complexion.

"Sirius, darling, it's good to see you again. It's been ages," she said once she had reached the group.

She gave Sirius a swift peck on the cheek, and he scrunched up his nose in disgust. Rose couldn't help but laugh. Angel placed her hand composedly on Sirius' shoulder, and turned with a cold expression to the surrounding group.

"Well, dear, aren't you going to introduce me to your _charming_ group of friends?" she asked with a very arrogant, conceited tone in her voice.

"Eh…sure," said Sirius, sounding almost bored, "This is James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Rose Clarke, and Remus Lupin."

Rose wondered briefly why Sirius had muttered Remus' last name under his breath.

"Oh, I thought I recognized that one," said Angel, nodding toward James, "He's the Potter boy that we met at Diagon Alley two years ago. You wouldn't remember me, would you Mr. Potter?"

"Not at all," said James in such a way that it was clear he already held a very low opinion of Angel Clarence.

"Well, take care to do so in the future, won't you?"

James rolled his eyes, a motion that Angel ignored, as she surveyed the rest of them.

"Pettigrew…I've heard my father speak of your family, and my mother is acquainted with the Clarkes. Lupin is not a familiar name…I thought I knew the names of all the pureblood families."

"Yeah, well Remus _isn't_ a pureblood. He's a half-blood. Is there a problem?"

"Why, of course not," Angel replied bitterly, her eyes narrowing as she scrutinized Remus, who began to squirm uncomfortably.

"Then let's keep it that way," said Sirius, folding his arms, "James, Remus, and Peter are leaving in an hour. Rose will be here for the holiday."

"Oh, how…wonderful," Angel said, sounding very disappointed.

"It _is _wonderful, isn't it?" replied Sirius defiantly, "We're going to have breakfast together before they have to leave. If you're going to eat with us, you'll have to keep your rotten opinions to yourself. Got that?"

"Of course," said Angel with a falsely sweet smile spreading over her face.

**A/N: Ugh…I really hate Angel…I usually like **_**something **_**about my characters, but she really has no redeeming qualities so far…wonderful hahaha. This was a bit of an uneventful chapter that's only here to lead up to the next one. Anyway, I'm giving you guys fair warning; it's going to get worse before it gets better. Regardless, I have a feeling you'll like the next chapter, though ;) I might get another chapter up tonight. I'm going to start writing now. Review this one and tell me what you think! Bye!**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: Okay, so I realize that I've been seriously neglecting all of the wonderful reviewers I've had so far, so I'm sort of going to thank you all at once and hope that makes up for it =D**

**Fabulous Virtual Brownies for:**

**Snoball13 (most reviews! extra thanks to you!!!)**

**KajiMori**

**AphroditeWriter**

**sunshinefarah**

**SnowStorm752**

**Sheyanne Blaine**

**Wolfy Pup**

**bais**

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**Perminatly Lost In Thought**

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**4herprince**

**Thank you, thank you, thank you! And now, without further ado, I give you what you came for!**

Quite predictably, breakfast was fairly awkward, what with Angel's frequent glares in Remus' direction when she thought Sirius wasn't looking, Sirius' and Rose's attempts to avoid looking at one another, James' feeble attempt to keep a conversation going with Peter, and Remus' desire to blend in with the table. Everyone stared at the plate of food in front of them after a while, making no attempt to eat. The awkward silence was, thankfully, interrupted by the morning mail. A letter was dropped into Remus' lap. He picked it up, looking confused.

"I'm leaving in half an hour…what could she possibly need to tell me?"

"Who, Lucy?" asked Rose, referring to Remus' older sister.

"Who else?" asked Remus, tearing open the letter.

With nothing better to do, the others watched Remus scan the contents of his letter with no real interest. Rose grew concerned, however, when his hands started to shake.

"Remus…" she asked gently, "Is there something wrong?"

"I…er…it's not…not from Lucy."

"Well, who's it from?" asked James, attempting to snatch the letter from Remus' hand.

Remus swiftly pulled it out of James' reach, crumpled it up, and stuffed it into his bag, then got out of his seat.

"I…I'm going upstairs. I'll see you…in a minute, okay?" he said, his voice cracking several times.

"But we're leaving in twenty minutes," said Peter slowly, his eyebrows raised, "Shouldn't you be getting ready?"

"I-I'm not going home after all…I'll talk you later, alright?" Remus replied a bit desperately.

Then he ran out of the Great Hall in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

"Should someone follow him?" Rose asked, her forehead creased with worry.

"No…" said Sirius slowly, "Looks like he wants to be alone for a while…"

"Oh can we _please_ stop discussing the filthy half-blood?" asked Angel with an ugly scowl on her face.

"Shut _up_!" shouted Sirius, getting up out of his chair, and glaring wildly at his fiancée, "Don't you _dare_ call him _filthy_ again! There's nothing _filthy_ about him! I don't care who the hell your parents are who you _think_ you are; Remus worth a thousand of you!"

Angel seemed close to tears and struggled to keep her composure, "Well," she said in an attempt to sound above being offended, "I would have suspected better of you, Sirius. I believe I'll be going to unpack now, then. You may come to see me when you've come to your senses."

"Are you bloody _joking_? If I had my way, you'd be back in France and safely away from me!"

"You don't mean that," Angel whispered, her voice losing its conceited tone as tears began to fill her throat.

"You want to bet?" asked Sirius, glaring at her ferociously,

With as much dignity as she could muster through the tears that were now sliding down her face, Angel stood up and headed in the same direction that Remus had.

"Hold on," said James looking shocked, "You're in _Gryffindor_? How the-"

But she was already gone. James turned back to the others, shaking his head. Checking his watch, he leapt out of his chair, pulling Peter with him.

"We've got to go guys. Send us an owl as soon as you figure out what's going on with Moony, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," said Sirius, a bit miserably, "Happy Christmas, guys."

"Happy Christmas!" Peter called over his shoulder as James began tugging him out of the Great Hall.

After another moment of silence Rose looked up at Sirius. There were deep bags under his eyes, and he clearly hadn't slept for a decently long time. Rose hated to see him like this. Why couldn't anything be simple anymore?

"Sirius?" she asked slowly, afraid that some of his anger would be taken out on her.

"Yeah?" asked Sirius, not sounding angry at all, but completely drained.

"I know…that this is hard for you to deal with, but you need to start sleeping…and have you eaten anything at all this week?" Rose inquired, observing Sirius' skeletal figure.

"I don't know. Rose, where the hell did it all go wrong? Remember our first year, when all we had to worry about was whether we'd get detention for falling asleep in Binns' class? Or even second year, when the biggest thing we had to deal with was Remus' werewolf issues? Now look at us. We're falling apart, Wing, and I don't think we can pull back together again."

"Maybe not," said Rose sadly, "But if we can't fix ourselves, at least we can be broken together. I don't know how I'd handle this mess without you guys. It'll all turn out right in the end, Sirius."

"No it won't, and you ruddy well know it. I mean really, look at us! Look what's happened to all of us in just a couple of months! We've got me with my lousy Death Eater family and that demon of a fiancée…Merlin I'm bloody _engaged_. How the hell did I let that happen? And then we've got you with your completely _mental_ family, and your brothers killed by your father and all. Now we've got Remus and whatever the hell's wrong with him. And what's happening with Peter lately?"

"What about Peter? He's fine, isn't he?"

"Sure he's _fine_, but do you notice how he barely talks anymore? And then he's disappearing all the time; yesterday I caught him talking to _Lucius Malfoy_ after Potions. I barely know the kid anymore!"

"I don't know, Sirius," said Rose shaking her head with pity, "Do you think you might be exaggerating just a bit? Peter's never been that talkative anyway, and they could have been talking about the homework assignment or something."

"Well, anyway, you know what I mean," Sirius retorted a bit more harshly than he'd intended, "We're all getting so _messed up_, you know? It's like James is the only one of us left who's still right in the head."

"Yeah, yeah, I get your point," said Rose resting her chin on her hand, suddenly exhausted, "I just don't want to look at things like that. I'm so sick of being depressed!"

"That's the way things _are_, Rose, you can't ignore it."

Rose breathed a heavy sigh, "I know."

There was a long pause before Sirius said, "I think Remus has had enough alone time. I say we go upstairs and make sure he's alright."

**A/N: Ugh! I wanted so much to keep writing this chapter, but again, I unfortunately have to leave before I can write down everything I want to. I know this is a bit of a strange spot to stop, but I want to get something up tonight for you guys because I haven't posted in a while. Sorry! Another chapter tomorrow, most likely. Reviews would be greatly appreciated! Bye!**


	15. Chapter 14

When Rose and Sirius had made their way up to Gryffindor Tower, they found Remus alone in the common room, curled up in an arm chair. He had clearly been crying, and he looked startled to see the two of them enter the room. Rose perched herself on one arm of the chair that Remus was sitting in, and Sirius sat on the floor in front of them.

"Er…hey, Moony," said Sirius trying, and failing, to sound casual.

"Hi," whispered Remus, his voice barely audible.

Rose was too concerned to be bothered with a pretense, "Remus, what's wrong? What did that letter say? Is it about Lucy?"

Remus slowly nodded his head, his eyes unfocused as though he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. Still more slowly, he stretched out the hand that was holding the crumpled letter, and held it out to Rose, who eagerly took it from him. Sirius stood up in order to read it over her shoulder. It turned out that it was not a letter at all, but a clipping from the _Daily Prophet_. Whoever had sent this must have known that Remus did not receive the paper.

**Brutal Attack on the Department of Muggle Relations Brings About Several Deaths and Injuries**

_Last night, at approximately eleven o'clock, a group of sixteen supporters of the Dark wizard who goes by the name of Lord Voldemort (see page 3 for a complete biography of this increasingly dangerous threat to society) launched an attack on the ground floor of the Ministry of Magic, focused particularly on the area of the Department of Muggle Relations. _

_The attack was believed to have been targeted toward Head of Department, Lauren Douglas, whose father, renowned Auror Arnold Douglas, was killed the previous week for an attempt to bring the leader of the culprits, or Death Eaters, into custody. The attackers that were discovered and are now awaiting trial in Azkaban included Kennan Lark, Josephine Craigs, Jonathon Maher, and Eileen Frazier. The other twelve are still at large, nameless, and dangerous. The public is advised to be cautious when dealing with strangers._

_Douglas is reported to have escaped the attack alive, but was unavailable for comment, as she is currently residing in St Mungo's with damage to the head and face brought on by an unidentifiable spell. The spell was said by a newly appointed Healer, Miriam Aldon, to have "disfigured all visible parts of the face, and seriously damaged the skull as well as the section of the brain that deals with speech and the understanding of language."_

_Other injuries caused by this attack were far less serious, and are expected to be short-lived. The nine deaths occurring during the attack were those of Alfred Dowry, Janice Wright, Alice Grant, Philip Smith, Arianna Benson, Sarah Roan, Anthony Dover, Clyde Arson, and Lucy Lupin._

Both Sirius and Rose gazed, horrified, at the last name on the page. Rose sighed; she had been expecting something like this. After all, why else would Remus suddenly be unable to return home for the holiday? Rose was quite aware that Lucy had been the only family that Remus had left, and the two had become very close simply because they were so dependent on each other. She looked down at Remus, who was now hiding his face behind his hands. What could she say that would make any difference at all? She decided that it would be better if, at least for the moment, she remained silent. Sirius seemed to be thinking the same thing, for he sank back down onto the floor in front of Remus, and said nothing. It surprised them both when Remus was the first to speak.

"She knew it was coming. Apparently, they'd been warning the Department that Douglas might be the Death Eaters' next target. The Ministry tried to hide her in Australia or something, but she wouldn't leave work. I guess…I guess it shouldn't be a surprise. I just…Lucy always seemed strong enough to…"

"There were sixteen of them, mate," said Sirius gently, "that's enough to take down anyone."

Remus nodded, took in a shaky breath, and picked up a text book from the table beside his arm chair. He opened it and stared without moving his eyes at the page in front of him, clearly signaling that he wanted to be left alone. Rose and Sirius picked up on the hint, and left the common room.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

_Prongs,_

_Read any newspapers lately? If you haven't, Moony's sister's dead. She was killed by Death Eaters at work. If I find out that Regulus or any other Black had anything to do with it, there'll be hell to pay. Anyway, Remus is in pretty bad shape. He won't cry in front of me or Rose, but you can tell he does when he's alone, and Angel's not making things any better. I swear, if Wing wasn't here to hold me back, I'd wring her neck. _

_Padfoot_

_Padfoot,_

_Yeah, my mom told me as soon as she picked me up at the station. This is bloody horrible. I'm sure Regulus wasn't behind it this time, though, because he's still at school, right? Sorry about the fiancée, mate. I'd kill her for you if I was there. Hope things get better soon._

_Prongs_

_Prongs,_

_Padfoot's probably already written to you by now, but in case you don't already know; Moony's sister was killed at the Ministry by a group of Death Eaters. I feel awful. And I haven't told Sirius yet, so __**please**__ don't tell him either (he'd overreact, you know him), but he's been drinking, James. I caught him with a bottle of fire whisky when I went to check on him in his dorm yesterday. I don't know what to do. On top of all that, Angel's giving him hell for the whole half-blood thing. You'd think since his sister's just died, she'd grow a heart for a while, but I suppose she really is pure evil. Oh, and did I mention she was put into my dorm room? Things just keep going from bad to worse. _

_Wing_

_Wing,_

_Yeah, I know about Moony's sister. I feel bad for him, too with his parents already gone and all. And  
Merlin's beard, is this Remus we're talking about? Drinking?! Wish I could help, but really don't know what to do about that. I'd just try to get rid of as much of it as possible. Angel can go to hell. I don't care if she was brought up like this, she's the bloody devil. Sorry you got stuck with her in your dorm. Keep me posted._

_Prongs_

Similar letters were sent by both Rose and Sirius to Peter. He responded to neither.

**A/N: Yes, another depressing chapter. We ARE in the middle of a war, though, people. Anyway, I know there are a couple of shocking facts in this chapter, although the first wasn't quite so shocking. Apparently a lot of you could tell by the wording in the last chapter that Lucy had died, so good for you! I'm pretty sure that none of expected Remus to start drinking, though…because neither did I. I have no clue where that came from. And why isn't Peter responding? I realize that I'm really messing up my characters here, but I plan to pull it all together in the end, so hang in there! Reviews would be lovely! Thanks!**


	16. Chapter 15

Two days later, on Christmas Eve, conditions had hardly improved. Angel had seemed to have taken too much of a liking to making Remus' life more miserable than it already was, and despite the now desperate letters that Rose and Sirius were writing several times a day, they still hadn't heard a single word from Peter, and they were starting to get worried. To top it all off, Remus' drinking habits were becoming worse than ever. When he had finally left his dormitory to use the bathroom, Rose discovered dozens of empty bottles littering the area around his bed.

Rose sighed as she knelt on her bed, wrapping gifts for Peter and James that were to be sent out that night; she'd wrap Sirius' and Remus' later. As she stretched the last piece of tape over Peter's fairly poorly wrapped remembrall and placed it next to James' sneakoscope, she risked a furtive glance at her half-empty trunk lying on the other side of the room. Somewhere toward the bottom of that trunk lay a sort of miniature pensieve, good for containing only one memory. She'd found it in Zonko's just before the summer, and had been waiting to give it to Matthew on Christmas. Needless to say, there was little chance of him excepting a gift from her now.

The pensieve contained the simple memory of the annual picnic that had been a tradition in the Clarke family until Rose was about ten years old. It was also the only memory that Rose had of an actual conversation she'd shared with Matthew, alone anyway. Alex had stayed home sick that year, and Matthew had taken Rose for a walk while their parents and Riley set up for the picnic. She was five.

"_Matthew, wait for me!" Rose called as she saw her big brother walk toward the beach about a quarter of a mile away._

"_Take your sister, Matthew, there's nothing for her to do here," their father called._

"_Yeah, sure, come on Rosie!" Matthew yelled, and Rose ran up to meet him._

"_How's it going?" asked Matthew once she had reached his side._

"_Good. Matthew, is Daddy an Auror? I heard him talking to Mommy, and it sounded like that's what they were saying."_

_Matthew laughed, "No, Dad's just an Auror in training. It's like…practice, just until he's ready to be a real Auror."_

_Rose opened her mouth as if to say something, and then closed it again._

"_What?" Matthew said, looking down at the confused expression on her tiny face._

"_I don't know what an Auror is."_

_He laughed again and said, "Aurors are kind of like superheroes. They're good the good guys who go around catching all the bad guys and giving them what they deserve."_

Rose paused in her recollection, not caring to remember the rest of the conversation, not that it had taken a bad turn or anything; she simply found it difficult to deal with the fact that her remaining family were Death Eaters if she thought of a time when she considered them good people. How could Matthew have said that about Aurors if he was working against them? Rose shook her head; he was young then. It must have happened later on…

Fortunately, something happened to interrupt this gloomy train of thoughts. A black owl with oddly striped legs was rapping at the window just behind her head. It was Peter's owl! Rose rushed to the window, and threw it open. She quickly untied a letter from its leg and was slightly disheartened as she saw how short it was. After reading it, however, she knew exactly why this was.

_Wing,_

_Dad's told me the post is being watched, and we shouldn't be sending letters if we can help it. That's why I haven't been writing; spread the word. We'll talk when I get back. Hope Moony's okay. Happy Christmas._

_Wormtail_

Forgetting everything else, Rose flung herself off of her bed, and hurried out of the dormitory to try to find Sirius or Remus. Unfortunately, however, this would be more difficult than she'd expected. As she flew down the stairs leading toward the common room, she ran directly into Sirius' approaching fiancée, knocking her to the ground. Brilliant, just what she needed.

"Sorry," mumbled Rose in a monotonous tone of voice, not bothering to offer a hand to help Angel off the ground.

"You'd do well to watch your step in the future," Angel snarled, glaring.

"Right," said Rose, inwardly rolling her eyes, "Well if it's alright with you, I really need to find Siri-"

"Yes, you're always looking to spend time with Sirius, aren't you?" said Angel, getting angrier now, "You just remember he's engaged, Clarke. He belongs to _me._ And regardless of what he's telling you to spare your feelings, he's quite content to be so," Angel waited with a malicious grin on her face, apparently waiting for the words to sink in.

Rose, however, only laughed, "You really don't get it, do you?" she said, still laughing, "First of all, Sirius is my best friend, so if you were anything but the bloody devil you are, it wouldn't matter to me that he's engaged. Second, it was an _arranged marriage_, idiot. He didn't choose to marry you, and given the choice he'd sooner marry a cockroach."

Angel was unfazed. She merely shrugged, still grinning, and said, "You believe what you want, Clarke. Just steer clear of my fiancée," she spat, and raced up the stairs toward the dormitory which, regrettably, belonged to them both.

Shaking her head, Rose continued her search for Sirius and Remus. The boys shared a dorm, so she decided to check there first. She found Remus crouched into a fetal position on his bed with something pouring out of his mouth. Empty bottles were, yet again, littering the floor around him. How had Sirius not realized what was going on?

Remus lifted his head slightly as Rose entered the room, and groaned.

"It's okay," said Rose quietly, sitting on the end of his bed, "I already knew."

"'S not what it looks like," Remus said weakly, his speech slurred; he was quite clearly drunk, "'S for the werewolf…thing. Makes the change easier…"

"Drop it Remus," Rose whispered gently, "The full moon was last week."

Remus groaned again, "Why d'ya hafta be so ruddy brilliant, Wing?"

"Remus, this has to stop. Look at what you're doing to yourself! You're not…you!"

"When am I ever me?" asked Remus, making an unsuccessful attempt to sit up, "'M not me when the full moon's out...hell I'm not me anymore at all. Was I ever me, Rose? Who the hell am I?"

"Not this," said Rose, her voice shaking and her throat obstructed by tears, "Remus, I know how hard it is; believe me, I know. But this isn't the way to deal with it. You'll _kill_ yourself, Remus. I don't know what I can do to help you."

"Don't cry, Rose," said Remus, stretching out a shaking arm in an attempt to comfort her, "You're so damn _noble_, ya know that? Always lookin' out for everyone else and not you…hell I'm not gonna kill myself, _you_ are, and there'll be a ton more people who'll miss you than me. So who cares if I drink 'til I'm dead? Doesn't matter."

"Don't say that, Remus!" Rose was shouting now, terrified.

Remus went on as though he hadn't heard her, "I know I'd miss ya, Rose. And God knows Sirius would, too."

It was the first time Rose ever heard Remus say Sirius' name with disdain, almost hatred. His eyelids began to droop.

"I love you, Rose," he said, obviously making a real effort not to slur words, "But I'm starting to think that Sirius does, too…and who've I ever been to compete with him?"

And with that, he fell instantly to sleep, leaving Rose sitting utterly thunderstruck at the edge of his bed.

**A/N: Okay…now we have a bit of a complication, don't we? Bear with me, guys. I promise things will start looking up…eventually. I know that Remus was seriously out of character here, but that's what alcohol does to people. Warning for the next chapter: First of all, it will not be very happy, but there will be a bit of a heartwarming moment at some point to make up for that; I promise. Second, it will definitely contain mildly disturbing material, but it won't be explicit. That's not my style. Review PLEASE! I really want to know how you guys think this is going. Thanks and bye!**


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Sorry for the longish wait, guys! Tons and tons of homework and FYI there's likely to be very few reviews until the sixteenth when finals (and school!) are over. I'm the type of person who has to study 24/7 so…yeah, but there may be another update tomorrow. Okay, so I like I said, there is some slightly disturbing content in this chapter, so if you don't like it, don't read it =). **

Suddenly, the letter that Rose still had clutched tightly in her hand just didn't seem important anymore. She wanted to scream in frustration, but she was afraid to wake Remus. What was she supposed to think? Remus…clearly needed help, and Rose just didn't know how to give it to him. Now, on top of that, came his wild drunken confession.

Was he telling the truth? Or was the alcohol messing with his mind? Rose persuaded herself to think that the latter was far more likely. Remus was one of her best friends. Friends weren't supposed to fall in love with each other, were they? Nothing made sense. At that moment, all Rose wanted to do was get out of that room, out of the castle even. She needed a walk. The night air was normally successful in helping her think rationally, and she needed all the help she could get.

Careful so as not to stir the now snoring Remus, Rose crept out of the dormitory and into the common room.

"Rose?" it was Sirius, "What's up? You look awful."

"Thanks," Rose replied, rolling her eyes, trying to sound sarcastic instead of terrified.

"It's almost eleven," he said raising his eyebrows, "Where could you possibly want to go?"

Eleven? How could the time have gone by so quickly? The last Rose could remember, it had been early in the morning.

"Right. Well I just…I think I'll take a quick walk before bed."

"Want some company?"

"No thanks," she said trying to force a smile, "You look tired; get some sleep, alright?"

"Yeah, fine," Sirius grumbled, and Rose left the common room and exited the castle into the grounds.

It was fairly cold outside, and Rose found herself wishing she'd worn a coat, or at least a heavier set of robes. She hated the cold, and was dismayed to see that it had started snowing. Still, she didn't want to return to the castle. If for no other reason, she wanted to be sure that Angel had fallen asleep before going back into the dormitory.

Looking up at the moon, she smiled to see that it was not nearly full. Remus had enough on his mind without having to worry about werewolf issues, as the group now called the predicament. James had claimed that "werewolf issues" was far less confusing and easier to say than "lycanthropy." Rose laughed at the direction her thoughts had taken. The thought of James was always a happy one.

"Laughing at nothing…that's a sign of a lunatic ya know."

Rose spun around and saw a tall, dark figure approaching her. The swagger in his step told Rose that he was clearly drunk. Great, just what she needed, another alcoholic to deal with.

"Who are you?" she called, for the figure wasn't yet close enough for her to see his face.

"Don't recognize me, Clarke? Sure ya do. Don't look much like your boyfriend, do I? But there's gotta be _some_ family resemblance, eh?"

"Regulus?"

It Sirius' brother, who also happened to be a Death Eater or close to it, according to Sirius. This could not end well.

"Tha's right, beautiful," Regulus sounded even more drunk than Remus had; Rose had to strain to understand any word he said, "An' ya know what? Thanks to you, Sirius hasn' even looked at me all year. _You _stole my brother."

Rose was taken slightly aback by this. She had always assumed that Sirius and his brother had always hated each other. From the way Sirius talked, it certainly seemed that way, but if the two had never been close, why would Regulus have been affected this much by Sirius' absence?

"I didn't make him leave, Regulus!" she called to him, a bit louder than necessary as he had now come much closer, and was only about three feet away from her now, "You did! You and your parents! Didn't you ever notice that he was nothing like you? That he was miserable living with a bunch of pureblood maniacs?"

"Tha's wha' he told you? No, it was you, I _know_ it was you. You made him leave!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Regulus. It's getting late; I think I'll just go back to school. I'll…er…see you around, okay?"

"Ya don't get it, do you? Ya think I was just wanderin' around out here in the middle of the night? I've been waitin' to get you alone, Clarke. You stole my brother, and there's no way in hell you're gettin' away with it."

As Regulus moved even closer toward her, Rose became increasingly aware of how large he was. Although he was a year younger than Sirius, he was about half a foot taller, and as muscular as his brother was thin. Drunk, wild, and angry, he was a very intimidating person. Rose looked around desperately. How was she going to get out of this? No one was going to hear her if she screamed; everyone who wasn't asleep would be too high off the grounds to hear anything or to make it outside in time to stop Regulus from doing whatever he was going to do. Being temporarily distracted by her own fear, she was shocked to discover that Regulus was now standing so close that his torso was pressed against hers. She reached into her pocket for her wand, and cursed under her breath when she remembered that it was lying on the dresser next to her bed. _Why_ hadn't she taken it with her? Meanwhile, Regulus had torn his own wand out of his pocket.

"_Petrificus Totalus!" _

Rose winced as she felt her body hit the ground, unable to move. Regulus grabbed the bottom of her robes and began to lift them over her head. Realizing what was going on, she tried desperately to open her mouth to scream, raise her fist to defend herself, _anything_, but no amount of physical effort can overcome the power of a magic binding. As she felt Regulus' hands reach under her undershirt, she closed her eyes, and prayed for it all to end soon…

**A/N: Okay, I can't work much longer, but I'm going to write for as long as I can. I was going to make this chapter about twice as long, but there's a chance that I wouldn't be able to finish tonight. If everything goes perfectly, I'll have another chapter up tonight, but I'm making no promises. Review please!**


	18. Chapter 17

When Rose opened her eyes sometime later, it took her several moments to realize that she had fallen unconscious. Pleased to see that had at least regained control over her own body, and that Regulus was nowhere to be seen, she tried to sit up. She immediately felt shooting pain in nearly every part of her body, and collapsed back down to the ground. Upon further observation, she was horrified to discover that all of her clothes had been torn off and thrown about the grounds, and that nearly every inch of her body was covered in large bruises. She felt something running down her chin, and wiped it with the back of her hand and saw that it was covered in blood. There was a large, bleeding gash just under her chin. With great effort, she managed to pull herself onto her feet and locate all of her clothing in order to dress herself before returning to the castle. This feat was made especially difficult, as her entire body was not only throbbing, but shaking as well.

Finally making it to the front door of the castle, Rose held her breath to keep from crying out when she nearly stepped on Regulus' unconscious form in the middle of the hallway. She continued to hold her breath as she stepped over Regulus' body and crept toward Gryffindor Tower. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw that there was still a light on in the common room, meaning that someone was still there. She hoped that she would be able to get past whoever it was without interrogation.

As she listened at the door at the top of the stairs, however, she knew that this would be impossible. There were voices on the other side of the door. One of them belonged to Sirius, the other to a girl, Lilly Evans by the sound of it.

"I'm sure she's fine, Black. You can wait for her here if you want, but I can't let you go looking for her in the middle of the night; I'm a prefect!" came the sound of Lilly's voice.

"Evans, she's been gone for four hours! She said she was going out for a _quick walk_! What if something's happened to her? Look, you can pretend you never saw me, and I'll be back as soon as I find her, okay?"

Sirius sounded extremely frightened, and Rose felt a slight surge of guilt knowing that this had been partially her fault. She heard Lilly sigh.

"I can't, Black."

"Fine. Give me detention, I don't care, I-"

Sirius stopped talking as Rose opened the door and entered the common room, his mouth hung open in an expression that looked like a cross between horror and disgust.

"What happened?" he demanded, obviously having observed her injuries.

Rose opened her mouth to speak, but found that she was incapable. She refused to burst into tears in front of someone she barely knew, and she felt that she couldn't speak without doing so. So she kept her mouth shut and, still violently shaking, sank into the nearest armchair.

"Rose, what happened?" Sirius repeated, his voice starting to sound panicked now, "Why won't you talk to me?"

Lilly, however, was staring at Rose with a knowing sort of look.

"I think I know what's going on," she said quietly.

Then she walked over to where Rose sat, bent down, and whispered so that Sirius wouldn't hear, "Was he drunk?"

Rose thought this was a bit of a strange question to ask, but nodded to confirm the answer. Lilly sighed, stood back up, and turned to face Sirius. She opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it, seeming to have changed her mind. She glanced at Rose.

"Do you want Black to know?"

Rose had to think about the question for a moment. She didn't like the idea of seeing Sirius react to either hearing what had happened, or that his brother had been the one to do it. However, Sirius was her one of her closest friends, and she didn't want to keep this a secret from him. She looked up at Lilly, and nodded. Lilly drew a deep breath.

"She's been raped."

Rose flinched at the word. Giving it a name made it seem so much more real…

Sirius seemed to have frozen. His face had become pure white, whether from shock or anger Rose couldn't tell. There was a long silence that seemed to last for hours. Sirius slowly turned his head to look at Rose, his eyes wide. He seemed to be shaking now to.

"Who?" neither his tone nor his face told Rose what emotion he was feeling. Never before had her friend looked this way.

Rose shook her head, feeling the tears threatening to fall. Lilly seemed to realize that she was no longer wanted in the room, and she quietly moved up the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories.

"Rose, _please_ talk to me!" Sirius looked close to tears as well, "Who…who was it? Who did this to you?"

Rose could see that there was no way out now that Sirius knew what had happened. She'd have to tell him sooner or later.

She whispered so softly that Sirius could hardly hear, "Regulus."

For a moment, he said nothing. The tense silence that followed was palpable, seeming to fill the room and made Rose begin to feel slightly lightheaded.

"That bastard," said Sirius softly and slowly, "is a dead man."

"No, Sirius!" Rose yelled, making Sirius jump, "Please, he was drunk; he didn't know what he was doing!"

"WHY ARE YOU DEFENDING HIM?" Sirius roared, "Look at you! You honestly don't think he should pay for this? You're going to feel safe walking around the halls with him there? What if he does something like this again? That's not a risk we should be taking, Rose!"

"He was drunk, and he was depressed," Rose insisted, her voice quavering, "He wouldn't do something like that if he was thinking properly. It _won't _happen again; I know it! Can we please drop it for now?"

Sirius sighed, "Fine. For now. For you."

"Thanks."

Sirius kneeled down in front of her and looked at her severely bruised arms and legs.

"Are you alright?" said, gently brushing her arm with his fingertips. Rose's heart beat faster at his touch. Was this an aftereffect? She didn't feel frightened though, she felt…safe.

"I'm fine," she breathed.

"You sure? You don't want me to take you to the hospital wing?"

"No. I'm tired; I just need to sleep."

"Do you need help getting to your dorm?"

"No…I think I'll just sleep here. I don't want to move."

Sirius' brow was creased with worry. Wanting to comfort him, to ensure him that she was alright, Rose stretched out a hand to put it on his shoulder, but Sirius grabbed it and held it in his own hand. He stared at her for a moment. Her heart was beginning to race faster and louder. She was surprised that Sirius couldn't hear it. He lifted his free hand, hesitated for a moment, and then rested it gently on the side of her face.

It didn't hurt, as she'd expected it to, quite the opposite. It felt warm, comfortable, and seemed to ease the pain a bit. She drew a shaking breath as Sirius bent his head closer to hers. Her head was spinning; she couldn't think straight.

"I love you," he whispered.

And without waiting for a response, he kissed her. Everything that had just happened seemed to melt away as Sirius' lips touched hers. All the pain she had been feeling was gone, and she was truly happy for the first time in many months. At the very moment Sirius pulled away from her, she fell asleep.

He sighed. As stupid as it might have been, Sirius would never regret that kiss.

**A/N: Bet you weren't expecting it to happen like that, were you? Haha, well this is going to cause a few problems inevitably. He **_**is **_**engaged after all, people. And we mustn't forget about poor Remus. Nothing can ever be easy for these characters, can it? I'll update as soon as possible! Review!**


	19. Chapter 18

Rose stretched her arms over her head as she woke the next morning, and instantly regretted the decision. She cringed as a renewed pain shot down her arms from her shoulders. Sirius was already awake, staring at her wordlessly.

"Sirius, we…need to talk…about last night."

"I know." His tone was monotonous, emotionless.

"I um…it can't happen, Sirius! Between us. You…you're engaged!"

Sirius nodded, "I know I am."

"That doesn't…bother you?"

"Rose, are you thick? It obviously bothers me; it's been bothering me since it hit me that I have to get _married_ to that worthless scum."

"So then why-"

"Because I don't care!" Sirius was practically jumping up and down with excitement now, "I've been thinking about it, and I decided that there's really no one making me marry her anymore. I don't care about my parents, and I sure as hell don't care about hers!"

"It's not that simple!" Rose's head was spinning, "If they're anything like either of _our_ parents they'll murder you the second you dump her! You're not stupid, Sirius, you _know _that!"

In one moment, the light and enthusiasm in Sirius' face was gone. His eyebrows pulled together, and he bit his lip.

"You…er…didn't know, did you?"

"I…what? What didn't I know?"

"How…how I feel…about you?"

Under any other circumstance, Rose would have laughed. That was probably the most awkward statement she'd ever heard in her life, but the unfortunate fact was that this was not another circumstance, and a certain degree of awkwardness was understandable. She shook her head.

"Honestly? Not even the slightest idea? Blimey, Wing, even Peter had it figured out after a while."

"Sirius, we can't-"

"Hang on. I just want to know something before we go into all the evil, bitchy details here."

Rose sighed, "Er…alright, what?"

"Do you love me?"

This question was followed by a long, painful silence. Sirius held his breath. How could he have been so stupid? His best friend had just been raped, and he could have completely traumatized her by kissing her. Could there have been a worse time?

"I don't know," Rose's whisper was barely audible.

If it was possible to hear a heart breaking, Sirius was sure that he could hear his own snap in two. As far as he knew, the words "I don't know" were synonymous "No, not really, Sirius, but I'll try to spare your feelings." Wonderful.

"Right. Happy Christmas, Rose," he said flatly, standing up and heading toward the stairs leading to the boys' dormitories.

Rose watched him go, wanting desperately to say something that would bring him back and, more importantly, bring everything back to normal. Two days ago, she never would have believed that two of her best friends would tell her they loved her, but they both had done just that in one night. Rose's head snapped up as she heard Sirius' deafening scream from the floor above.

"REMUS! MOONY, WAKE UP! OH GOD, OH, _GOD_! ROSE! GET HELP; HE'S NOT BREATHING!"

**A/N: Yup, I know. Shortest chapter IN THE WORLD, but I haven't updated in like two weeks, and I have to get to the rehearsal for the play I'm in which I'm already late for haha. So the ending to this tiny chapter was a bit shocking, no? Review PLEASE!**


	20. Chapter 19

It was as if Rose had been given an electric surge. It no longer mattered that Sirius had just made her life about five hundred times more complicated; it didn't matter that she was so sore that her every movement caused a shooting pain to surge through her body, and it didn't matter that she'd just been raped. Remus wasn't breathing, and she needed to help him, _now_.

She threw herself out her armchair and bolted out of the common room into the hallway. She flew down the corridor into McGonagall's office, only to find it empty. Perfect. Where the hell could she be? Thinking it best to abandon the search for McGonagall, she ran down three staircases toward the hospital wing, hoping that Madam Pomfrey would be there. Unfortunately, at the bottom of the final staircase, she found herself directly in front of her least favorite roommate.

"Watch where you're going, Clarke!" snapped Angel Clarence, "You nearly knocked me over _again._"

"Out of the way, Clarence, I need to find Madam Pomfrey!"

Angel remained where she was, barring Rose from making any movement toward the hospital wing. Frustrated, she tried to shove Angel out of her way, but as Rose was a slight, frail girl, and Angel was much sturdier, this attempt proved quite embarrassingly futile.

"Out of the _way_! Remus is _dying_, and I need to get help!"

At the sound of these words, Angel seemed to stiffen, her face rigid as if fighting some sort of internal struggle. As Rose made another attempt to move past her, Angel grabbed her by the shoulders. Rose let out a cry of frustration and desperation.

"Really, Clarence? I know you have some obsessive, pureblood crazy-"

"Where is he?"

"Who?" Rose asked, taken aback.

"Don't be thick, Clarke; the half-blood, where is he? Madam Pomfrey's gone for the day. I can help; you may ask questions later."

Rose was absolutely bewildered. Never in a thousand years would she have believed that the day would come when Angel Clarence would help a half-blood. Was this some sort of trick?

"I don't know…" she said slowly.

"If you don't mind me saying," Angel snapped, "I was under the impression that you were trying to find help for a dying boy. If you keep holding me up, he'll be gone before we get there!"

Rose bit her lip. This was quite a compelling argument, and there was no time to think things through. She would have to trust Angel for now.

"He's in his dormitory, come on."

Rose grabbed hold of Angel's wrist, and ran with her up the stairs until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" she asked.

"Mandrake," Rose muttered hurriedly, and the portrait swung open to admit them.

The pair of girls raced up the stairs leading to the boys' dormitories, and Rose threw open the door of the room that belonged to Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter. Sirius was kneeling beside Remus' bed with his head in his hands.

If she did not know better, Rose would have thought he was still sleeping. He looked exactly the same as when she had left him the previous night, curled into exactly the same position. Rose's chest tightened as she was struck with the sudden realization that Remus could have stopped breathing nearly twenty four hours ago, and she hadn't even noticed. Was he already dead, and was she to blame?

Sirius picked his head up as they entered the room, and his eyes narrowed when he saw Angel, but said nothing. Angel hurried to the side of Remus' bed, shoved her fiancée out of the way, and knelt down. She seized Remus' wrist, and held it up to her ear. For a full thirty seconds, she said nothing.

"There's a pulse," Angel said slowly, causing both Sirius and Rose to breathe again in relief, "but it's extremely faint and irregular. I need to know how this happened…oh, right!" she exclaimed, clapping her hand to her forehead.

She drew her wand from inside her robe, rested the tip on the side of Remus' head, and muttered, "Morbio Revelio!"

Instantly, green lines began to form all over Remus' body, seemingly from underneath his skin. Angel sighed.

"Intoxication," she said, "Has he been…oh," Angel stopped herself short as she saw the bottles littering the floor around Remus' bed. "Well, the alcohol's gotten into his bloodstream; that would explain the irregular heartbeat…"

With surprising strength, Angel tore open Remus' shirt, revealing his bare chest. On it, were the green outlines of what looked like his lungs. Surprisingly enough, Angel smiled.

"He choked; there's alcohol in his lungs."

"And that's a _good_ thing?" Rose asked weakly.

"It wouldn't be if he'd been like this for ten minutes. Looks like he passed out around four minutes ago."

"How can you tell?"

"This line here. It's four inches away from the center of the lung. Getting it out will be easy. The alcohol traveled through his airway, so a simple spell should get it to come back up. Let's see…Accio, Lupin's liqueur!"

A fountain of fire whisky poured from Remus' mouth and dropped to the floor at Angel's feet. Rose watched him hopefully, looking for a sign that would tell her that he could breathe, but his chest remained still.

"Why can't he breathe?" Rose asked, getting frantic.

"His heart, remember?" Angel said, sounding exasperated, "I'm going to have to bleed him."

"_Bleed_ him?" exclaimed Sirius, speaking for the first time.

"Yes, bleed him," said Angel, rolling her eyes, "It isn't a problem, less than a third of his blood is infected, so he doesn't need a transplant."

"Rose, do you think…" Sirius cast an anxious look at Rose, who looked back with a confused expression.

Then it hit her. Remus was a werewolf, and according to Remus himself, a werewolf's blood is considerably thicker than a human's, which would mean that if Angel knew as much about the body as she let on, examining Remus' blood even briefly would let her know of his condition. Angel already hated Remus because he was a half blood. Could she be trusted to keep a secret that classified him as a half breed as well?

**A/N: I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY! Hahaha I have a lot to be sorry for, don't I. The first thing I'm going to apologize for is having this chapter in SO LATE! I'm not getting into excuses, because I know you guys really don't care, and I don't want to be boring. Also, I'm really sorry for cutting this chapter short of what I expected it to be, but some of it took longer than I'd anticipated, and I have a dress rehearsal to get to. Thirdly, I'm sorry for leaving poor Remus hanging, and you all confused about Angel's sudden willingness to help! Haha there are plot twists in the future! Finally, I'm sorry because I can't reread this for errors, so bear with me. If everything works out like I want it to, there will be another chapter up tomorrow. If not, I'll have it up on either Friday or Saturday. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks guys, love you all!**


	21. Chapter 20

"Do you really have to bleed him?" Rose asked uneasily, "Isn't there a spell…or a potion that could-"

"Not that I know of," said Angel, sounding extremely agitated, "Is there a problem, because he isn't going to last much longer with an irregular heartbeat."

This was it, then. They had no choice. Given the options of revealing Remus' secret or losing him forever, Rose knew that the latter was unthinkable.

"Go on, then," she said, with a panicked look in Sirius' direction.

Angel rummaged through her bag at her feet, and pulled out several large, glass vials, presumably for holding the blood, along with a particularly long surgeon's needle. Rose was slightly shocked as to why the girl just happened to be carrying these things around with her, but decided that the time for questions would be later when Remus had, hopefully, been cured. She bit her lip as Angel broke through Remus' skin with the tip of the needle, and saw blood rush through the transparent glass attached to it. Losing no time, Angel handed the small container of blood to Sirius, indicated that he should pour its contents into one of the vials, and pulled another identical container out of her bag.

This process seemed, to Rose, to last hours. After handing Sirius a final vial of blood, Angel laid down her needle, and stared intently at Remus' chest, resting her hand gently over his heart.

Rose didn't need to see Angel's grin of relief to know that it had worked. Remus unconsciously sucked in an alarming amount of air, and his breath became increasingly even. Angel pressed her ear to his chest, and her grin widened.

"Everything seems to be back to normal," she said in a businesslike tone, "He'll need to sleep for another eight or so hours before he is fully recovered."

"Thank God!" breathed Sirius, "Well…thanks, Angel. Don't take this the wrong way or anything but…what the hell? I though you _hated_ Remus!"

"Sirius, darling, there are a vast number of things that I would wish upon a half blood, but death certainly isn't one of them. I've been studying to become a Healer at Beauxbatons; saving lives is something I'm almost programmed to do. I will have to speak with Madame Rachelle about intoxication remedies…"

"So let me get this straight," said Rose in a slow, skeptical voice that made Angel slightly nervous, "You _do_ hate Remus because he's not a pureblood?"

"Well, of course! I'm no blood traitor," she retorted with a warning look in Sirius' direction.

"And you saved his life…because you want to be a Healer?"

Angel's eyes narrowed. She stared directly into Rose's eyes, "You believe whatever you like, Clarke," she snapped, her voice as cold as ice, "But you say anything, and I'll see to it that the Daily Prophet hears about our little drunk's lycanthropy."

As Angel stomped out of the room, Rose smirked and turned to Sirius.

"Oh, I seriously doubt that," she said, laughing slightly under her breath.

"Did I miss something?" asked an extremely confused Sirius.

**A/N: Yes, my poor friends, I have given you a 512 word chapter…sorry about that. Good news is I'm writing the next one RIGHT NOW so it should be up tomorrow night…not tonight because I'm going to bed soon, and not tomorrow during the day because I'm going to a family reunion. UGH. Sorry again guys; I'm a terrible person! I know I don't deserve it, but reviews would be greatly appreciated!!!! Love you all, bye for now.**


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N: I'm really, really sorry for the disgustingly long time I took to get this chapter up.**

Rose was still smiling, but Sirius' curiosity had faded almost instantly after he had asked the question. Now that Remus was alive and recovering, reality came crashing back down around him.

"On second thought, never mind," he said, heading toward the door, "I'm going down for some breakfast. Oh, and you know what? You could have told me he was drinking."

Rose's smile was immediately wiped from her face, "I didn't want to put more stress on him! Anyway, how did you know that I knew?"

"Don't be ridiculous; you know you can't lie to save your life! I knew you had to be hiding something. Rose, what the hell were you _thinking?_"

"I told you, I didn't want to put any more stress on him! No offense, Sirius, but you have a tendency to overreact to _everything_."

"Overreact? Are you joking? So it's _overreacting _when your best friend poisons himself on a regular basis and you want to stop it? Did you even try, Rose?"

"I-I didn't…I wasn't-"

"You weren't thinking. Right. Listen, Rose, I don't want to fight you right now," Sirius was wearing a pained expression, "Look, you still look pretty bad. You sure you don't need anything?"

Rose was taken aback by Sirius' change from anger to concern. Truth be told, she felt horrible from the inside out. She was sore from head to foot, there was a searing pain in her side that she'd chosen not to tell Sirius about, and she wasn't exactly short of emotional pain.

"I'm fine."

Sirius knew that she was lying. Like he'd said before, Rose couldn't lie to save her life. Would there be no end to the lies and the secrets?

"Alright, then," he said, playing along for reasons unknown even to himself, "One of us should stay with Remus in case he wakes up and needs something. You don't look up to a lot of walking right now," Sirius bit his lip as he observed Wing's many bruises, "How about you stay here, and I'll go get us some breakfast?"

"Sounds good to me," Rose said, forcing a smile.

Sirius saw the falsity behind her smile, and didn't bother to try to return it. He looked at her for a brief moment, his expression heavy with sadness, before slowly walking out of the dorm room and down the stairs. Rose turned away from the door after he'd disappeared and stared at Remus' sleeping figure. Had this disaster been completely her fault? Could she have prevented it?

"I'm sorry, Remus," she whispered.

As if on cue, Remus groaned and stirred in his sleep. Rose reached for his hand, and his eyes snapped open.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Sirius stalked down the stairs and into the Great Hall in an extremely bad mood. What did not help matters was spotting his beloved little brother directly across the room. Part of his mind, the Rose and Remus inspired part most likely, was screaming _Don't do anything you'll regret! He's your brother! Come on Sirius, he was drunk, and you know that it's partly your fault…bloody hell it's almost completely your fault!_

Unfortunately, however, this voice was screaming much too softly, and was drowned out by his blind rage. Without a word, he stormed across the Hall and grabbed Regulus by the collar, dragging him out into the deserted corridor beyond the Great Hall.

"What the…S-Sirius?" Regulus stuttered, bewildered.

The two brothers had not exchanged a single word since Sirius had left home. When Regulus tried to make contact, Sirius blatantly ignored him.

"Just shut up!" Sirius shouted, "You ruined _everything_, you bastard!"

"I don't…what are you talking about?" Regulus was still stunned by his brother's decision to talk to him, and was secretly pleased, even if their "talk" involved Sirius shouting at him and pinning him up against a wall.

"You've got to be bloody _joking_! Fucking hell, Reg, I knew you were a bloody Death Eater, but this is disgusting! A rapist, Reg, a _rapist_? Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Regulus' face fell. He'd been afraid of this. He never would have raped the stupid girl if he hadn't been bloody drunk. Now it was more than likely that his older brother hated him. Sirius had been the one thing that mattered ever since his life had taken a turn for the worst, and now he had lost him.

"I…I'm sorry, Sirius," he murmured through the tears that were threatening to fall.

"YOU'RE _SORRY, _ARE YOU?" Sirius bellowed with a rage that he didn't know he had, "YOU'VE GONE AND RUINED HER LIFE! NOT TO MENTION MINE!"

At a loss for anything else to say, Sirius threw back his fist and landed it directly on the bridge of Regulus' nose, delighting in the sound of the breaking bone. As Regulus sank to the ground when Sirius finally released him, he bent down and whispered in his ear, "You're bloody lucky the girl you _raped_ is holding me back from killing you. The one you scarred for life is saving your ass. Hope you're proud of yourself."

"Sirius I…she's not…I'm your brother!" Regulus exclaimed, slightly horrified, despite his shame, that Sirius was choosing this girl over his own brother.

"I don't have a brother," Sirius snarled.

And with that, Sirius turned and stormed out of the corridor and back into the Great Hall, leaving Regulus slumped against the wall with his head in his hands.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

He had been pacing the common room floor for hours, trying to calm himself down before he went upstairs to where Rose was watching over Remus. Finally mastering his temper, he carefully picked up the tray carrying enough food for three people in case Remus woke up early.

He slowly made his way up the stairs, and stopped in front of the door to the dormitory, wondering how he was going to open the door with the enormous tray in his hands. Carefully balancing it on one hand, he twisted the doorknob and opened the door just wide enough for him to slip inside. With a horrified gasp, he felt the tray slip from his hand at the sight he had just walked in on.

Rose, _his_ Rose, was kissing a barely conscious Remus Lupin. Wing's gasp was similar to Sirius' as she jumped away from Moony and stared at Sirius with an almost wounded-looking expression. Sirius stared back for a moment, blinking rapidly and trying to comprehend what he'd just seen in a way that wouldn't make him feel betrayed. Rose, after all, did _not_ belong to Sirius, as much as he wished it were that way, and this was in no way a betrayal.

"I…um…well I should," Sirius stammered as he backed away toward the door once more, "I should…go."

And as he made his way back toward the common room, what hurt the most was that Rose had made no attempt to stop him. Halfway down the stairs, he felt what he'd been fighting back for a full ten minutes, the swift and violent attack of utter heartbreak. He sank to the ground as harsh sobs wracked his body. It was over.

**A/N: Ah, but it's not over, Sirius! Who else is a bit shocked? The next chapter will give you Rose's account of what happened, and then we'll go from there. We might also see some more of Regulus in the near future. I promise the next chapter will not take this long to finish! I know I don't deserve it, but I'd really like my readers' opinion on some things! What do you think is the deal with Angel's bi-polar-ness? Is there any logical reasoning behind it, or is she just completely mental? What about Regulus? Should we feel sorry about the whole losing his brother thing, or does he deserve it? Do you think Sirius made the right choice in confronting him this early? Should Rose be defending him? And we can't forget that shocking bit at the end! What happened while Sirius was gone?? What will happen from here? Well, you will all find out very soon, but first I want to hear what you think! Review!!!**


	23. Chapter 22

Rose gasped as Remus' eyes snapped open at the sound of her voice. They seemed glassy, out of focus. For a moment, it seemed as if he were trying to remember where he was. His eyes shifted slightly to where his dozens of once-concealed empty bottles lay exposed around his bed, and he groaned softly. Still surveying the scene around him, his eyes rested on eight vials filled with his own blood. He bit his lip and his gaze turned hesitantly back to Rose.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice betraying his feeling of desperation.

Rose took in a shaking breath, trying to think of the best way to explain things, "You…were drinking too much Remus, and you got yourself intoxicated."

"Oh God," Remus clapped his hands over his face to conceal tears that were threatening to reach his eyes. He _knew_ something like this would happen. He knew it, and yet he had done nothing about it.

Rose directed her attention to the nearby window to give him some privacy, "When Sirius came up, you weren't breathing, and I went to get help. McGonagall wasn't in her office, so I went to find Madam Pomfrey, but I ran into Angel Clarence on the way, and she wouldn't let me by. She forced me to take her up to you, and she tried some spell that told her you were intoxicated. Angel saved your life, Remus."

"Angel _Clarence_," Remus repeated, bemused, "Well that's just perfect, isn't it? I owe my life to the one person alive who hates me more than Snape."

"You don't owe that girl a thing!" Rose snapped indignantly, remembering Angel's behavior in the days leading up to the incident, "After the way she's treated you, I'd say she owed _you_. It's bloody well likely she knows it, too. At the very most, you two are even. Who knows? It could be a fresh start for the both of you."

Remus' face fell, and Rose could tell she'd struck a nerve.

"There'll never be a fresh start for me. My life's been a ruddy mess all the way through, and it's not about to get better anytime soon…I've never told you how my parents died."

Rose waited for him to continue, realizing how shameful it was that after years of friendship, she'd never thought to ask. After a few minutes of waiting, Remus remained silent.

"What happened to them, Remus?" she asked in a tentative whisper.

Remus let out a long breath as if he'd been holding it in his silence, "Not much to say, actually. Went and killed themselves."

Rose let out a gasp that was barely audible, and if Remus heard her, he ignored it.

"My mum first," he continued, his eyes closing as if he were visualizing the event, "It was the year before Hogwarts. My brother, Romulus, had just died."

"You had a _brother_?" Rose exclaimed before she could stop herself.

"Twin brother, actually," Remus replied, the ghost of a smile on his face, his eyes still closed. As quickly as it had come, that faint smile disappeared, "I was only ten; I didn't know what I was doing!" he nearly shouted as if he were defending himself, "I didn't mean to…I'd never…" he took a slow breath to calm himself down, "James reminds me of Romulus," he said quietly, "a little too much, in fact. That's why when he found out…when he followed me, I…Romulus was always too curious for his own good. He'd go snooping around in places he wasn't supposed to be, like bars or the parts of town that Mum always told us were too dangerous for children…and then one day, he got too curious. It was the full moon; I didn't know he'd followed me!"

Remus was sobbing now, and Rose understood.

"Stop, Remus," she whispered, not wanting him to call up the entire memory.

But Remus didn't seem to have heard her. Through his tears he continued the story, "I can even remember it. I don't remember most of what happens when I'm in the wolf form. We hadn't told Romulus about my being a werewolf…I didn't want him to be afraid of me, but he wanted to know where I went when I disappeared every month, so he followed me. I remember seeing him jump out from behind something…I don't know what it was…and he was…smiling. Guess he thought it was cool, his brother being a _monster_."

"Remus, you're not-"

"All I could focus on was the pulse in his neck. It was so loud, I couldn't stand it. All I wanted was for it to stop. I must have growled or something because Romulus stopped smiling and his eyes got wide…_'Remus, it's just me! It's Romulus! Don't you know me, Remus? Remus, don't do that; you're scaring me! Let's go home, okay? Remus? Remus, NO! Please! STOP! What are you doing? Remus, this isn't funny, I wanna go home! Don't, Remus, PLEASE!'_"

Then Remus let out a horrible scream, no doubt still imitating his brother.

"Remus!" this time it was Rose who called out to him, but he continued to plow through his horrible tale.

"I barely heard what he was saying, and I didn't care. His pulse just kept pounding in my ears, and I wanted to make it stop. I _needed_ to make it stop. So, I did. I cut open his throat and watched the blood run out. Then, I left him there. I came back after I'd changed back, and I carried his body back to the house. It was my fault, and my parents knew it. They couldn't look at me after that, not that I blame them. Lucy had already left home…I'm not sure when she found out. I don't remember much about the next few weeks except coming back from a walk to find my mother on the floor with a bullet hole in her chest. She…she couldn't use magic…if she could it would have been…easier…less painful. My father killed himself the next day, and Lucy had to quit her Auror training to look after me. I ruined everyone's lives. Why do I get to live, and they don't? It isn't fair! I almost wish that-"

Rose couldn't bear to let him finish that thought, "No, Remus! It's not your fault! _None _of that was your fault. Like you said, you didn't know what you were doing!"

"It's not fair," he repeated, "Everyone misses them now that they're gone, and all that's left is me. Fat lot of good that is. Who the hell would miss me, knowing what I've done?"

"_I_ would!" Rose screamed in desperation, "We all would, Remus, you _know_ that! We love you! _I _love you!"

At the sound of these words, Remus reached up and pulled Rose's collar down to where it was level with his face, and kept pulling until their lips met. Rose found herself kissing him back. He _needed_ to know that he was loved.

The brief silence was broken by the sound of metal crashing to the ground, and a heaving gasp. Rose gasped as well, and jumped away from Remus. She found herself looking into Sirius' broken expression, and she knew that what she had done was wrong. Whatever she did from here, someone was going to get hurt. She watched, her heart pounding in her chest, as Sirius ran down the stairs. She slowly turned to face Remus once more, but he had already fallen back to sleep.

From beyond the door, she heard a strangled sob, and she began to cry quietly along with it.

**A/N: God, you people have every right to hate me right now. I don't even **_**know**_** how long it's been! But my horrible lack of updates aside, we discovered a whole lot in this chapter, didn't we? This has been the only chapter so far that I cried while writing. I know, I know, I'm pathetic, but I hated making Remus confess everything at once like that. Anyway, we also found out that it was Remus, not Rose, who provoked the kiss, so we still really have no clue who Rose is going to end up with. Talk about a miserable Christmas, huh? Review, please!**


	24. Chapter 23

_Padfoot,_

_Why are you all neglecting me?! How selfish of you. Here I am, bored out of my mind and stuck with my parents for the holidays, and you're romping around Hogwarts without me, and I don't even get a letter? You know I'm only joking. How's the she-devil fiancée? Making any headway with Wing? And PLEASE tell me that Moony's doing better. Wing told me not to tell you…but apparently he's been drinking. Look after him without going crazy, alright? _

_Prongs_

* * *

_Wing,_

_No letter for days! What have I done to deserve such treatment? Got anything from Wormtail yet? I got something that said the post is being watched…but I don't really write anything in these letters that should be hidden or anything. Anyway, I told Padfoot about Moony's little drinking problem. Don't hate me, okay? He needs help if he hasn't got it already. I'll see you in a few days! KEEP ME POSTED._

_Prongs_

* * *

_Prongs,_

_I hate my life. Wish you were here._

_Padfoot_

* * *

_Prongs,_

_Let's start with what's important. We had a close call with Remus a few nights ago. I won't go into the details, but he would have died if a certain wicked witch hadn't come to rescue. Angel bloody Clarence! There's something funny there, don't you think? So, Remus is fine now…er…well, he'll live._

_God, James, I've messed up everything! I don't want to go into it right now. I'll talk to you when you get back._

_Wing_

* * *

_Padfoot,_

_I'm coming back. Now. See you in couple of hours. Tell Wing if you can._

_Prongs_

* * *

Sirius put down James' letter and let out a massive groan that didn't go unnoticed by Rose, who was on the opposite side of the common room, previously absorbed in a book. She was now looking over the top of it in what she undoubtedly believed was an inconspicuous manner. He quickly averted his eyes. He hadn't spoken to her or Remus in the past four days, and he had no desire to speak with her now. She'd made attempts fairly often, trying to pretend that what he'd seen had never happened.

"_Sirius, I'm going for a walk, do you want to-"_

"_I'm busy, Clarke. Get out of my way."_

"_Clarke? When did we go from 'Wing' to 'Clarke?'"_

When he looked at her again, her focus had returned to her book. He sighed inwardly. She hadn't done anything wrong; he knew that. He just couldn't be around her without broken or resentful. At least for now, it was better for both of them this way. Slowly and reluctantly, he rose from his chair and wandered to where Rose was yet again looking up from her book.

Taken by surprise, she exclaimed, "Sirius! I-"

Not waiting to hear what she was about to say, Sirius dropped James' letter into her lap without looking into her face and stalked out of the room. He needed room to think…or rather, to stop thinking.

* * *

Rose stood, anxiously waiting for James to enter the Great Hall. Words couldn't express how relieved she was that he was coming back early. She could really use a friend that didn't make her hate herself from guilt.

After what seemed like forever, Rose saw James' mop-like hair bobbing through the crowd in the Hall. Before he could even catch sight of her, Rose had run up to him and flung her arms around his neck. James laughed and laid his hands on her shoulders.

"Knew you'd miss me, Rosie," he said, still laughing.

"Don't you _dare_ call me that again, Potter," Rose said, releasing him from her grip, a wide smile spreading across her face.

"Oh, _Potter_, is it now? So, where's the rest of my welcome wagon? Too lazy drag themselves out of bed before noon?"

"Well…" Rose began hesitantly, "Remus is still in the recovery process, and Sirius, well…he's not-"

"Say no more!" James interrupted, "You obviously don't want to talk about it, and I can get it out of Sirius later."

"Have I ever told you how amazing you are?"

"Not once."

"Well, you are."

"I know it, sweetheart."

**A/N: I know, you hate me. It's short, and it took FOREVER to get it up. BUT I'll have another one up this weekend at the very latest. Love me again? Review!**


	25. Chapter 24

_Nice, Prongs. First day back, and you've already landed us in detention! I didn't even know you could get detentions over Christmas!_

**Aw, Snivellus was asking for it, Wing. Stupid bloody git.**

_You know that had nothing to do with you, right?_

**Whatever hurts my Lily hurts me. **

_YOUR Lily? Dream on._

**I most certainly will.**

_So, have you talked to Sirius yet?_

**I tried. Wouldn't talk about anything. Kept trying to change the subject whenever I mentioned you. Merlin, you must have done something real bad.**

_Don't remind me._

**Well, are you planning on telling me what happened?**

_I don't think I can._

**Why the hell not?**

_It's…private. Not just for me…Sirius, too…and Remus._

**Honestly, Rose? I'm seriously the only one left out of the loop?**

_No, there's Peter._

**Right. Heard anything from him lately?**

_Just a letter about how someone's watching the post. I can't see how it matters though. We don't write anything top-secret in our letters to each other, do we?_

**It's still creepy, though.**

_True._

**So you're really not telling me?**

_Do you think Slughorn fell asleep?_

**No, he's got the Prophet under his desk. And don't change the subject! Tell me what happened, or I really can't do anything to help any of you.**

_Fine. So it all kind of started with Regulus._

**Black?**

_Who else?_

**What about him?**

_I'm really not comfortable writing it down._

**Well, you're going to write it down or you can say it out loud for Slughorn to hear.**

_Ask to go to the bathroom and go outside of the girls' bathroom on this floor. I'll meet you there._

* * *

**I'm going to kill him.**

_James, he was drunk._

**Oh, and that's such a great excuse, isn't it? So, if I get drunk, I can do whatever the hell I want, can I? Regulus is a dead man.**

_If Sirius can hold back, so can you._

**I can't believe **_**him**_** either! If that were my brother…**

_I've been holding him back._

**How can you be so calm about this?**

_What's the point in doing anything about it?_

**Hm, I don't know…making sure he doesn't do it **_**again**_**? And next time it might not be you. We need to get him expelled or **_**something**_**. He's dangerous!**

_You're thinking about Evans, aren't you?_

**So what if I am?**

_Gee, thanks for the compassion, Prongs._

**I'm sorry. That was a stupid thing to say.**

_No kidding._

**Sorry.**

* * *

**You hate me now, right? I'd hate me.**

**Wing?**

**Rose?**

**Listen, I was thinking of you, too. I honestly was. It's bloody horrible what he did to you!**

**Rose, I'M SORRY! I don't know what else I can say!**

**Oh, God, I made you **_**cry**_**? I'm a git…I hate myself.**

_No, it's not that. Stop going on the self-pity rant._

**Then, what's wrong? That was a stupid question. Don't worry, Wing, nothing like that's ever going to happen again, okay? I'll make sure of it, believe me.**

_It's not that either._

**Then what is it?**

_I guess everything's really starting to hit me now. When I told Sirius about…what happened, and he finished his little tirade, he told me…that he loves me._

**Well, it's about time! **

_You knew?_

**You underestimate me, my friend. But really, that's nothing to **_**cry **_**over.**

_Did you know about Remus, too?_

**Remus?! **

_Yeah._

**You've got a bit of a dilemma there.**

_You think?_

**Well, do you…you know…feel the same way? About either of them?**

_I don't know!_

**Not even the slightest clue?**

_Nope._

**Bullshit.**

_It's not! I honestly have no idea._

**Impossible. Want my honest opinion?**

_No, but you're going to give it to me anyway._

**You know. I'm sure of it. And I'm pretty sure I know what you know, too.**

_That makes no sense._

**Yes it does. Look, whether it's love or not, you and Sirius have fancied each other for years. Sirius just figured it out a little sooner. I think you know that you fancy him, and you're afraid of hurting Remus. You're so damn **_**nice**_** all the time, Wing! Can't you think of yourself this time?**

_Remus…has been through a lot. A whole lot._

**And?**

_Well, IF you're right, and I'm not saying you are, now's not the right time._

Professor Slughorn tore his eyes away from the newspaper on his lap long enough to look at the clock. He turned to James and Rose almost as if he were surprised to see that they were still sitting in the classroom. James smirked; this surprise was not unfounded. If he and Rose had not been…otherwise occupied, he certainly would have gotten them out of the room without Slughorn's noticing.

"Ah, well," Slughorn stammered, "You two are free to go. And might I suggest visiting young Mr. Snape in the hospital wing? That was quite a nasty…er…what spell _was_ that, exactly?"

James' grin widened. It had been his own personal invention, and he'd been quite proud of the results, "Not a chance, Professor," he replied, implying both that he would not tell him what the spell was called, and that there wasn't a chance in hell that he'd be visiting Snape in the hospital wing. Like he'd told Wing, the git got what he deserved.

"Ah, yes, well…enjoy the rest of your holiday."

"You too, Professor Slughorn," Rose replied, her voice shaking slightly.

She was really starting to worry James. She seemed to be taking the whole "getting raped" thing a little too lightly, and what was with the sudden breakdown earlier? He'd have to keep a close eye on her from now on. Hell, he'd have to keep a close eye on all of them!

They walked to the dormitory in silence. It was strange, as neither of them were what you'd call quiet people and there was certainly a lot to talk about. There was just a lot of tension in the air, and James couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He doubted that Rose could either. It was just…bizarre. There really wasn't any other word for it. He fished around in his robe pocket for the note he and Rose had been passing. He knew exactly what he was going to do with it, and she was going to murder him.

**A/N: Hey guys, how long did that take me to get up? I'm not sure. Oh, well. So this chapter was mainly a bridge to the next one, which I'm working right now. I've got a lot of things planned for upcoming chapters. There were a few hints hidden in this one, some more obvious than others, and two of you have already guessed at the hint I gave a few chapters ago about Angel's bi-polar…ness. Anyway, I've got a five-day weekend, so I should be able to get the next chapter up before Monday. REVIEW, PLEASE!**


	26. Chapter 25

**A/N:** **Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!**

Traipsing up the stairs to her dormitory, Rose felt an extreme need to lie down. Her head was pounding and she felt nauseous. Wonderful, she was getting sick…that was just icing on the cake, now wasn't it? Entering the dormitory, she threw herself onto her bed and shut her eyes as tightly as possible, willing the ache in her head to pass.

"How did you know?" came what was probably the most unwelcome voice she could have heard from the bed standing just to the right of hers.

She turned over to face a very pitiful looking Angel Clarence. She was curled up into a ball underneath a blanket on her bed, and she had clearly been crying for a while. Rose rolled her eyes; this was getting ridiculous.

"It wasn't exactly hard to figure out," she replied, not bothering to hide the disdain in her voice. She knew she should be grateful toward Angel for saving Remus' life, but right now, she just didn't have the energy.

"What would you do, Clarke?"

Rose sighed. As much as she didn't want to deal with Angel Clarence at the moment, this girl desperately needed some sense slapped into her.

"You know, Clarence, I don't know what I'd do," she snapped, "because I'm about as far away from your position as possible. I'm not a pureblood fanatic completely attached to a Death Eater loving family. I'm not trapped in an arranged marriage by my deranged family, and I sure as hell am not engaged to Sirius Black, but you know what I wouldn't do? I wouldn't go on making his life miserable, Angel. I say your family can go to hell. Leave them if you have to. You're clearly not as evil as you let on, and there's still a chance that it might work!"

"It _won't_!" exclaimed Angel, bursting into tears, "I shouldn't…I can't…"

"You can't _what_, Angel? Love a half-blood? Well, let me tell you, love doesn't care about what's easy. It'll make your life miserable, believe me, but you have to deal with it and just hope that it all works out in the end."

"You're talking about Sirius, aren't you?"

"S-Sirius?" Rose stammered, caught off guard.

"Don't try to play it off like you don't know what I'm talking about, Clarke," Angel said, rolling her eyes, "He looks at you like you're some kind of angel…er, you know what I mean. I've always known there was something between you two. Even before I came to Hogwarts, he'd talk about you in his letters. It sounded as if he were trying to let me know I wasn't welcome, that there was already someone else."

"Look, Angel, we're not talking about me right now. You want my advice? Stop treating Remus like dirt. It's a start. I don't know if what you're feeling is love because I really have no idea what love is, but it's obvious you fancy him, and he's never going to feel the same way if you go on with the insults, alright?"

Angel rolled over and sighed, which Rose took as an assent. She closed her eyes and waited for the pounding in her head to subside.

* * *

James watched Rose slowly ascend the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories. She hadn't appeared to have seen Sirius sitting in the chair by the fire in the common room, but Sirius had clearly seen her; his eyes followed her up the staircase before he suddenly came to his senses and snapped his gaze back to the fireplace. James cleared his throat loudly, and Sirius jumped before turning to look at him.

"Sorry, didn't see you there," he grumbled.

James smirked, "Oh, I know, Padfoot. It's hard to notice anything else when Wing's around to watch, isn't it?"

Sirius glared at him, saying nothing, "Hey, I was only joking!" he pulled the note out of his pocket, "Well I'm going to head upstairs for a while."

Sirius nodded, and as James was leaving the common room, he let the crumpled piece of paper fall to the floor in front of Sirius' feet. He gave it a pointed stare before turning and walking away. Sirius stared at the paper for a while, deciding whether it was in his best interest to pick it up. It _was_ James after all. Making his decision, he picked up the paper from the floor and threw it across the room into the wastebasket. Whatever was written there, he didn't want to know.

* * *

Remus groaned as he again began to regain consciousness. He had never felt so weak in his life and every movement he made caused a searing pain to wrack his body, and it felt as if a knife had been repeatedly lodged in his head. It took him a few minutes to realize that something actually was rapping at the top of his head, two somethings, in fact. With grueling effort, he tilted his head upward to see two owls who had been tapping his head with their beaks. One of them was the owl that regularly brought him the _Daily Prophet_, and the other was Rose's owl, Rowan.

What on earth was he doing here? Rose had left Rowan behind when she left her family. Who would have sent it back? And why was it in his dormitory rather than Rose's? Deciding it would be wrong to read Wing's mail, he reached for the package containing the _Prophet_. He bit his lip as he read the biggest headline on the front page: _Largest Scale Attack on the Ministry Results in the Capture and Imprisonment of Twenty Nine Death Eaters. _The article read:

_An army of approximately seventy five followers of the Dark Lord lodged an attack on the Ministry of Magic this past Sunday. It is believed that the so-called "Death Eaters" were targeting the Minister himself. Despite the unfortunate loss of five members of the Defense Department (Alice Johnson, Goliath Frazier, Isabel Langley, Janice Hatch, and Rudy Graden), the Department had great success in securing twenty nine "Death Eaters." _

_Two of these Dark wizards committed suicide while being brought to Azkaban mere moments before their wands were to be confiscated. A brief background check was performed, and the "Death Eaters" were revealed as Haylee and Martin Clarke._

Remus stopped reading the article and stared at the two names of deceased Death Eaters. How on earth was he going to tell Rose? He turned to look at Rose's owl. There was only one surviving member of Rose's household that could have sent that letter. He snatched the letter from the owl's beak and tore open the envelope.

_Dear Rosie,_

_So, you've probably read a paper in the last couple of days. In case you haven't, Mum and Dad are dead. I don't really want to go into the details. Alex is dead, too; he died the day you left…Dad killed him. I know how bad that sounds, and I swear to God he wouldn't have done it if his temper hadn't gotten the best of him. I know you probably hate me, and I'm sure I would too if I was in your shoes. _

_I also know that I have no right to ask anything from you and that you probably never want to see me again, but I need you right now. I'm done with Voldemort. Look what he's done to our family? Dad killed Riley and Alex, and now he and Mum are gone, and you took off. I'm alone, Rosie, and I can't take it anymore. He'll come after me, but we can make a run for it together! What do you say? I'll be at the house a week from today._

_Matthew_

**A/N: Quite a revealing chapter, don't you think? So, now we know what Angel's strange behavior was all about. Angel and Remus, hm. Anyone think it'll work out? And then there was that bit about Sirius and the note. Who hates me for making him throw it away? Plus, we can't forget Rose's family problems. What is she going to do from here? Should Remus show her the letter? I've got a lot of deciding to do at this point. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


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